Angel's Armada
by Butterontoast
Summary: Sakura lead a normal boring life until she meets Naruto, an angel that is part of an elite group of warriors from heaven called the Angel's Armada. Sakura is thrown into a world of chaos where demons are at war with angels. NaruSaku!
1. Chapter 1: My Angel

A/N:

I DON'T OWN NARUTO

This is my first story so please review and tell me how I'm doing! I will appreciate all comments and suggestions A LOT (so long as they aren't flames).

So here it is, the first chapter or Angel's Armada:

Chapter 1: My Angel

"This is RIDICULOUS!"

A light thud echoed through the halls. Once again, Sakura Haruno was stuck at the hospital, in the middle of the night, waiting for her friend to take the next shift. Lazily she picked her head up from the desk littered with papers and glanced at her watch.

"3 o' fuckin' clock... WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU INO!?"

Of course the pink haired girl didn't really have anything to do. Sure it was a Friday night and she should go out to a party- have some fun! But she knew that once she got off work she would just head home down the same, boring root she took every day. She wished for something more exciting- but what? She loved her job as a nurse and this was just how she wanted to spend her time; doing what she loved! Helping people! Sakura snorted at herself.

"Yea right. Just what I wanted to do. Sign papers alllll night. Just great!" she complained to herself. Today was not such a busy day so she filled up her time with long due paper work that she had found awaiting on her desk in the morning. All she wanted to do was take a nice long shower and go to sleep- after a 17 hour day of work. What normal human being wouldn't want that?

Soft taps from outside her office woke the pink haired girl from her stupor. Leaning as far back as her wheely chair would allow, she looked out her door and sure enough, there was her blond friend, waving happily with a smile on her face, hair trailing behind her as she trotted down the hall. After reading the unamused look staring back at her, the blond gave a goofy grin and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Heheh... sorry Sakura... I got a little distracted!"

"Again?" Sakura added, though it was more of a statement than a question.

"Well you try being nocturnal Sakura!" Ino shot back back at her friend, hands placed firmly on her hips.

"Yeah well technically I am too now that you've decided to start showing up at 3 in the morning! How am I supposed to get any sleep if I have too keep babysitting you!? If it wasn't for me you would have been fired a _long _time ago! And another thing I- ooh... What's that?"

Ino frowned at her friend's comment that she needed to be "baby sat" but shrugged it off and smiled; Sakura always had some sort of A.D.D when it came to something that interested her.

"Oh! Well since your acting like the bitchy billboard brow you are (Sakura twitched at the name) I guess I won't give it to you now." Ino ended with a smirk.

"OH COME ON INO PIG! GIMME'!" Sakura playfully responded forgetting about the obvious anger she had been expressing merely seconds ago.

The blond girl knew her friend all too well- she could never give up a surprise.

"Well since I was late I decided to pick you up a little something." Reaching into the bag she took out Sakura's favorite meal; syrup-coated anko dumplings.

"Ohhhhh thank you Ino!!" Sakura said, grabbing the bag. Damn. Why did Ino have to know her so well. She was way too forgiving of her blond friend.

"Well I gonna' go Ino! Thanks for the food!" Sakura turned on her heels and started off down the hall leaving a bewildered Ino behind.

"Wait! Aren't you gonna' stay and eat with me?!" Ino yelled down the hall.

"Nope!" Sakura answered as the doors of the elevator opened.

"BUT IT'S SO BORING BY MYSELF SAKURA!" Ino whined.

But her only response from Sakura was a smile and a wave.

"Bitch." Ino smiled.

The pink haired girl sighed. 'Another long boring day in the life of Sakura, huh?' With a soft bing the doors opened and Sakura made her way out of the building, stopping when she walked out the door.

The stars were shining brighter than the street lights. It was strange that she could even see the stars in the city when the glow of the city usually masked the beauty of the skies.

Tonight it was empty on the street and Sakura quickened her pace. She didn't want to be out by herself- not that she didn't feel safe (she was definitely able to take out every man, woman or super hero with her abnormal strength) but it was freezing. Wrapping her arms around herself and bunching her shoulders up to keep warm she passed by the homeless man she saw everyday, to and from work. She was always intrigued by the fact that the old man never moved from that one spot on the street (to her knowledge) and yet he never got any money. Not even one cent! And yet the man was never sick nor did he get any thinner- in fact, he looked just as healthy as any other person living in the city.

Making a sharp turn she walked down an alley. Even if it did seem dark and scary this shortcut saved her lots of time. But as soon as she turned the corner she immediately regretted it. Her steps suddenly felt heavy- as though she were the weight of an elephant. Time seemed to slow down and the soft rustling of the wind died out completely, leaving an eerie silence. Sakura's green eyes widened. 'What's going on?' She began to panic, picking up the pace as much as her heavy legs could take her, but the end of the alley wasn't getting any closer. A shadow quickly passed behind her. She spun around to see what it was but she found nothing. Then another shadow. She turned. Nothing. Soon her world was spinning trying to pinpoint the thing that was terrorizing her.

"STOP! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Sakura screamed in denial. Of course whoever these people were wouldn't stop. She was sure they were having too much fun at her own expense. Her feet could no longer move as though they were glued to the ground and all of a sudden her throat was clogged- even something had wrapped its invisible hands around her neck and was slowly squeezing the life out of her. Slowly, green eyes started to close and knees buckled to the ground. 'What is this? Will anyone save me?' What was she supposed to do? She did what anyone else in her position would do. She closed her eyes and waited for the heavens to open up for her. But then, out of nowhere, a ripple of warmth was sent through the alley and a jolt of chills were sent up her spine warming her body. The weight was immediately lifted as well as the restriction on her throat. She grabbed her neck and began to cough, hungrily gulping in precious oxygen. The wind returned, softly caressing her cheeks, slowly beginning to calm her back to her senses. She slowly moved her hand from her mouth to find something black.

"What the.. What the fuck just happened?!" Sakura trembled. The black ink like substance slid down her arm where it stopped at her watch. 4 o' clock. 'That's impossible! It was only 3 O'clock two minutes ago!' Sakura thought, shakily raising herself with the help of the wall beside her. She felt lighter than ever ('GOD DAMN GRAVITY IS MESING UP TODAY'), but after what had just happened she felt ready to curl up next to the dumpster across from her and fall asleep. Feeling ready to walk on her own she pushed off the wall only to have her legs buckle underneath her. She closed her eyes in anticipation of the hard pavement below. But it ever came.

In the second that her green eyes met blue, she was frozen. The blue orbs staring at her seemed to glow like the ocean with the sun's gleam reflecting off of the water. It was something so intense yet so soft, it felt surreal against the dark back round against the alleyway. The arms that wrapped around her body from the front gave off a warmth as though the suns rays were reaching her.

"Are you all right?" a kind voice asked. The pink haired girl was baffled; her mouth still open like a fish out of water.

"I...I-I..I" She stuttered. 'Damn how many times could she say the word "I"?' Sakura had always responded to things a little too quickly (and usually violently), mostly ending with her fists in someones face: being stuck in an alleyway, after being attacked by God knows what, while a stranger you can't even see holds you in his arms, is no different. Her arm reached back and made contact with the man in front of her at full force- a tiny yelp was produced by the man on impact, immediately letting her go. Sakura almost felt bad- as though she had just punched a puppy, and he was, after all, trying to help. But she couldn't be sure; the look the man gave her that she could barely decipher from the dark was of either fury or surprise. Even if she didn't know the man somehow his aura was comforting, in fact, she felt completely safe and yet she chose to follow her instincts and took off as quick as she could out of the alley and around the corner.

"That... That actually hurt." the man whispered to himself, rubbing his now, black and blue arm. He listened to the footsteps slowly disappear down the street. Sensing that nobody was nearby he stepped out of the alleyway into the deserted city, brightened by the street lights. He stretched his long wings, their color blending in with the fresh falling snow. With a goofy fox grin Naruto chuckled, puffing his feathers up in delight of meeting the girl- though he had been watching her for long time before this moment.

"I_knew_ it! She _is_ one of them- _and_ she's cute!" Naruto lightly laughed as he watched his pink haired angel stumble on the new snow forming on the ground.

"Sorry I scared you Sakura-chan. But I think we're gonna' get to know each other a lot better from here on out." Spreading his wings, the angel took flight in the falling snow

To Be Continued!

A/N:

I'm Sorry if this first chapter moved a little slow and you're all probably wondering what the heck is going on but I promise (or at least hope) as you go on it will get better! Please keep reading as I add on chapters!

My next chapter will be added as soon as I possibly can!

Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2: Who Are You?

A/N:

I wanted to thank everybody for reviewing! I was having a really bad morning before school but then I read the comments and I was happy the rest of the day!

This chapter has A LOT of explaining in it but if I never get some of these details out of the way my story would never make sense to anybody. I never realized how hard it was to write a story in a world completely made up in my head! There are lots of non existing words so try to stick with me!

The chapters will be more exciting after this one but for now here's the next chapter:

* * *

Chapter 2: Who Are You?

A flock of pigeons fluttered from the rooftop as the angel lightly landed. Naruto had decided to pay his 'adopted mother' a visit- and he knew he could always find her in this spot. He walked over to the dirty blond haired angel who was sitting on the edge of the building with her legs dangling off the side. She wore what every guardian angel wore: simple black pants, a black long sleeve v-neck and a long yet light coat in black as well. The only difference in their attire were the long leather boots that clung tightly to her legs and her long hair pulled back into pigtails at the base of her neck. Rather than his usual response to seeing her with a "Hey old hag!" he just folded his wings and sat down silently next to her, mirroring her position on the roof.

"How are they?" Naruto asked.

Without looking at him, Tsunade gave a sad smile. Her eyes were focused on the room directly across from them. Through the window was a little boy with dusty brown hair and a light blush visible on his cheeks. He was playing with a man beside him with long white hair- the two acted together as though they were father and son but if one were to compare the two in appearances, it was obvious they weren't related. Tsunade laughed as her little brother fell on his face.

"They're doing fine." She finally answered. Naruto noticed her wings slouched ever so slightly.

"Are you?"

For the first time that night Tsunade turned to look at Naruto with a perplexed expression. After all it wasn't everyday that Naruto acted so polite towards her, or for that matter, anyone. The boy was a knucklehead but he could be extremely sensitive and caring when someone was in need of a friend.

"I'm fine. I just wish... I just wish that I could be there with them. Once I died I felt so... incomplete without Dan and Nawaki. I feel like I'm nothing. I'm always worrying about them."

She was lucky she had the boy. It was only around the blond beside her that she let her guard down. He was part of the family in her afterlife after having to leave her boyfriend and her brother. At times she could seem the scariest around Naruto, but deep down everyone knew she considered him a son- even allowing him to affectionately call her (though she disliked the name) Baa-chan.

"But you know that's not true right? I mean, look at them! They're happy! And you don't have to worry about them- you left Nawaki in the perfect hands. They won't ever forget you Baa-chan. They'll always love you!" After a little pause Naruto added: "Besides! You have me!" He proudly pounded his thumb to his chest with his foxy ear to ear grin.

"You sappy brat." Tsunade laughed.

"Old hag!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever."

The two were left in a comfortable silence, watching the snowflakes fall. Naruto decided that now was the best time to tell her.

"Hey Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence.

"Hm?"

"Y'know the girl I've been watching? The one with pink hair?"

"Oh yes you mean your cute little Existent crush?" Tsunade teased (an Existant was the name the angels gave for the living.)

With a blush that could rival a tomato, he looked away. Puffing up his cheeks he answered.

"Shut up you old hag! That's not the point!"

Recuperating from his embarrassment he turned back to her, folding his legs in a pretzel, he leaned in.

"Guess what happened today!?"

"What?" She giggled. Naruto was a powerful angel, perhaps the strongest in the troop. He could be a fierce warrior in battle, but in his current position, he looked like an excited puppy about to be fed.

"She hit me! She hit me and it hurt! It's real bad too, see?" Lifting up the sleeve of his coat he presented his arm to Tsunade. Sakura had definitely left a nice bruise on the angel.

Now most people would probably answer to "she hit me and it hurt" with a "thank you captain obvious!" or at least think along those lines. But an Existant hitting an Existant was quite different from an Existant hitting an angel.

"Wow. That must've been a pretty good punch!" After inspecting the damage done she raised her wing in the air and placed the tip of it to Naruto's arm. Energy from the tip of her wing was released in white glowing pulses and, slowly, the bruise disappeared as though nothing was ever there.

"I gotta' learn how to do that."

Ignoring Naruto's comment Tsunade spoke.

"Well, I guess you've finally found your partner! It's about time." Tsunade smiled.

"Yeah I know! I thought I would never find one! But, the thing is..." Naruto trailed off.

"What is it Brat?"

"Well..." Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"How am I supposed to tell her: Hi, Sakura how was your day? Oh I just came by to tell you that you're going to be part of my new troop that battles demons and possibly save the world with me and some other angels. Okay, see ya later!" Naruto ended.

"No you idiot you don't say it like that. It's always hard in the beginning for both the angel and the Existant, but you have to figure it out for yourself. Besides, you're going to be a troop leader; grow some balls." Tsunade stood up abruptly and lifted into the air.

"WAIT THAT DOESN'T HELP ME AT ALL! YOU OLD BITCH COME BACK HERE!" Naruto frantically yelled. But Tsunade was off and it would be pointless to follow her. Even if he caught up to she would never give him any advice.

"You'll figure it out Naruto! Tell her tonight! I'll see you later!" She smirked and disappeared into the snow.

Grumbling under his breath he took off in the opposite direction.

"She's probably too old to remember when she became troop leader anyway." He muttered. He wished that Neji, Choji, Gaara or Iruka were around. They had all become leaders of their own troops and had the experience of telling the Existants of their group what was in store for them. But they were all on a mission. It was all up to Naruto. Landing on a tree next to his future teammate's apartment, he took a deep breath.

* * *

Sakura stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry herself. She had gone a whole night without sleep and she was sure that when she opened the bathroom door, she would be able to the sun beginning to rise out her window. She looked in the mirror and lifted her finger to her face, pulling her bottom eyelid down. She felt much better after taking a shower but she still couldn't get what happened in the alley out of her head. Was she only imagining it? Other than flushed cheeks from the heat of the shower she looked fine. The ink like substance that had come out of her mouth was gone and she felt normal. She was probably only tired- after loosing a night of sleep it was completely understandable. She took a deep, calming breath and wrapped the towel around herself. She opened the door and smiled as a nice cool breeze brushed against her skin. But wait. Why did she feel a breeze in her apartment? 'I didn't leave the window open' she thought. Her green eyes shot open. Standing before her was a man dressed in a long black coat, with a pair of angel wings attached to his back. From the top of his golden hair to the boots strapped to his feet, he was covered in snow. And then she looked up at his face. Those shining blue eyes that entranced her were familiar. Those were the eyes she had seen in the alley. But then Mr. realization gave her a slap to the face and she snapped out of her trance. With a scream she turned immediately and sprinted back into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

Naruto had expected to find Sakura in bed- after facing a demon the only thing one would want to do is go to sleep. A demons presence alone took an incredible amount of energy from an Existant and even an angel. But what he had not expected was to find the girl stepping out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. The steam that engulfed her and spread apart as she opened the door made her look like a goddess. Not that he was complaining of course. Ever since he laid eyes on her he thought she was perfect. Her eyes were like glowing jades and her bubblegum pink hair showed off her happy and fun personality. No he wasn't a stalker though it would seem like it. He had respected her privacy and never peeked at her when she changed or showered- though he was grateful for this accidental chance at seeing her straight from the shower. He couldn't help but marvel at the milky white skin of her arms, legs and elegant neck. But with a scream that startled the dazed angel she vanished behind the bathroom door. His first impression was not turning out to be a good one.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU? GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" came a muffled yell from the other side of the door.

"Please I-I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to frighten you I just-"

"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?" Sakura screamed. Naruto was getting flustered

"I need to talk to you Sakura I-"

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?! OH GOD... YOU'RE A STALKER AREN'T YOU?!"

"N-NO I-I'M NOT! PLEASE CALM DOWN! LET ME EXPLAIN! JUST LISTEN TO ME!" Naruto tried to keep his voice calm but he was just as scared as Sakura herself. What was he supposed to do? For a second he thought about just turning around and running away to plan a better introduction but that was a false hope. He had already blown it that was for sure.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked softly, moving closer to the door. No answer came. Good. Maybe he could get some words out now.

"I know it may seem like I'm a stalker...but I'm not and I think you're pretty...so I wouldn't be surprised if you had some...Uh.." Naruto began to slap his hand to his head with a muttering of "stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." What the hell was he saying? He had never stumbled over his words this much in his life.

"Okay let me start over." he began, gathering his wits.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm an angel of an elite group of warriors called Angel's Armada. Our goal is to protect earth and heaven from demons. As of today I'm a former member of troop 3 and the leader of troop 7. I know this probably doesn't make much sense to you right now but I want you to believe me. I'm not going to hurt you."

"So you expect me to trust a stranger that's been following me around for god knows how long and just happened to find way into my apartment? How did you get in anyway?"

Naruto gave a relieved smile. At least she had calmed down a little.

"The window was unlocked." Naruto replied shakily.

"How the hell did you get up to the window? We're on the tenth floor."

"I told you. I'm an angel."

"Oh God. I'm stuck in my bathroom with a man in my living room that thinks he's an angel. Fuckin' perfect. Could this day get any better?" came the sarcastic reply.

Naruto chuckled. He loved how the girl was able to express humor when she was scared shit-less.

"Weird huh?" Naruto sighed, leaning his back on the door and sliding down to sit. Sakura could feel warmth seeping through the door as the boy leaned his back against it. It was true. This boy was not a normal person. How could a someone's body heat seep through a door? She should have been horrified for her life, but she felt comfortable as the warmth from the boy spread through her body. There was something about him that she trusted, and yet, she couldn't put her finger on it.

"They're real you know. My wings."

Sakura flinched as she felt something soft brush against her hand. Looking down she noticed feathers reaching from under the door. Cautiously she moved her hand towards the feathers and touched them. She was amazed at how velvety soft they felt- her fears were starting to fade. Naruto felt Sakura's touch on his sensitive wings but did not move them: for one it was relaxing the girl, but it also gave Naruto chills. For Sakura to be touching him was incredible; a normal Existant could not touch let alone see an angel. That fact that Sakura had actually punched him meant that she was not ordinary- she was meant to be in his troop.

"What does any of this have to do with me?" Sakura asked, still caressing the white feathers.

"You're what we call an Existent. They are simply the living. A normal Existent can only see an angel from the time they're born to the age of three." Naruto chuckled. "That's why kids have such a big imagination I guess."

His chuckle made Sakura smile.

"But there are some Existents that aren't normal- not in a bad way. That's where you fit in."

Sakura stopped moving her fingers along the feathers.

"You're a D.A. A Destined Angel. You have a power that lots of people don't have and when you die you will continue as a warrior for the Angel's Armada. You can see angels, Sakura. But what's more, you can hurt me. You actually gave me a pretty nasty bruise!"

"Sorry." Sakura was confused. This boy sounded happy about being punched.

"But that means you are part of my troop. Every D.A can see an angel, not not every D.A can harm one."

"How are they chosen?" Sakura asked. She still wasn't sure if the boy was lying to her or not but she decided to give the him a shot.

"The teammates for each troop are chosen by the D.As that can harm an angel. They become a part of the team- sometimes there are even more D.As in a troop than angels." Naruto took a deep breath. He never had to explain the world of the angels to anyone and he wasn't sure where to go next.

"The demons. Why do you need to fight them?"

"Remember what happened in the alley way?" Naruto asked.

Sakura did not answer, but he continued anyway.

"_That_ was a demon. We were not always at war with them; we had no reason to be- we lived separate lives. But lately the demons have been restless. They live off sadness, hatred, jealousy- all the negative emotions of an Existent and they get an incredible amount of power from every death. It's like a drug to them, and now they are addicted- they started a killing rampage and we are here to stop them."

"So that demon tonight. It was trying to kill me?" Sakura trembled. So she didn't imagine it. She had been in the face of death and she hadn't even realized it.

"Yes." Naruto frowned.

"So you're really not a stalker are you? You saved me, right?"

Naruto laughed.

"No I'm not a stalker. I'm your guardian. That's why I know so much about you Sakura. I should've know that you were one of my D.As!" Naruto leaned his back and bumped his head on the door.

"I'm so stupid."

Sakura laughed at the angel's childish behavior.

"So there are more... D.As?"

"Yeah. There isn't really a limit to the amount of teammates in a troop, but there are usually about three, and since the minimum is two, There are still more teammates we need to find!"

"How do you know if I'm going to join you?" Sakura asked.

"I don't. I'll probably be the laughing stock of Angel's Armada. But I won't force you. I will respect your choice." Naruto tensed. What if she said no?

Sakura's fingers could feel the feathers stiffen as Naruto tensed. Naruto could feel the movement of the girl standing up. She opened the door...

TBC

* * *

A/N:

The characters may be a little OOC. It's hard to keep them in character when your trying to explain something.

Sorry, I posted a little later than I expected but at least it's up. I also drew a picture based on my first chapter but I'm having trouble posting it- but when I find out I'll put the link up.

I think I chose the worst time to write this story because I have SO MANY PROJECTS DUE! GGGRRRRRRR! Because of my teachers being butt crunchers and giving essays in every class my next posting might not be for a while- maybe even a week :( BLAME ALL MY TEACHERS! But I hope everyone will keep reading and reviewing!


	3. Chapter 3: A New Introduction

Sorry for the wait but here is the next chapter! I've never written a battle scene let alone a fanfic or an stories in particular so I'm sorry if my story is not the best piece of writing and I don't really like this chapter all that much :( I still try! I'll stop blabbing now. Here you go! Chapter 3!

* * *

Chapter 3: A New Introduction

The pink haired beauty stepped out of the bathroom for the second time that night- or rather, for the second time that morning. Naruto immediately leaped to his feet and stumbled backwards from the door. Realizing she was still in only a towel, he shut his eyes tight and his face turned a deep shade of pink.

"UM..I-I! SORRY I-I..." Naruto stuttered ('Damn it! I though I was over all that!' he thought.)

"Do you really expect me to fully believe you? Do you know how unbelievable this sounds? What you're telling me...I mean.. It.. It just doesn't make sense!" Sakura began. She no longer cared that she was in only her towel. She had come to the conclusion that the boy would not try anything with her. All she wanted now was some sort of proof that anything he was describing was real. She didn't want to doubt it- in fact she was longing for something like this to happen, something that would change her boring life into something different. If the boy was lying, her wish would go crashing to the ground. But however much she wanted it to be true, it sounded like a child's fairytale. It just wasn't possible.

"Angels, demons, Existants, D.As. I'm still not sure I believe it all." Her head slowly turned to the floor, hiding her frown. Naruto opened his eyes.

"I didn't expect you to. It's a crazy thing to learn in one day, I understand. I'm not really sure how to prove any of this to you- you've already felt the aura of a demon and you seen my wings. And I-"

"Take it off." Sakura interrupted. It was an order.

"What?"

"Your coat. Take it off." Noticing the blush that had disappeared a while ago reappear on his face she rolled her eyes.

"I want to see your wings."

"Oh..." Naruto smiled sheepishly. He lifted his hand to the zipper of the thin coat and pulled. After unzipping the coat he reached back and undid a few buckles- Sakura figured it was the only way it was possible for the angel to wear clothes with wings. Letting his coat fall quietly to the ground, he started unbuckling the back of the next layer. Crossing his arms and grabbing the bottom hem of the black v-neck shirt, he lifted it up and over his head revealing a beautiful body. This time, Sakura blushed as the boy threw the shirt to the side. He was simply the most gorgeous person- or angel- whatever he was- she had ever laid eyes on. His lightly tanned skin was flawless and it shined proudly in the moonlight that was barely visible behind the window. He had a toned stomach, but not so much that he looked like a crazed body builder on steroids. Her eyes began traveling further down, passed his navel to the black pants hanging loosely around his waist, then further...

Snapping herself out of her daze she lifted her eyes up quickly to the boys face, only to be entranced once again. She never got a good look at his face and boy was she missing out! The soft golden locks on the top of his head waved slightly in the breeze from the opened window. She moved to the familiar blue eyes that still seemed to shine brighter than the sun.

"Um... Sakura-Chan. Are you okay?" The boy asked with a worried look on his face.

"Oh no, no! I mean yes! Sorry I just a little tired! Hahahaha!" She answered with a painfully, obvious forced laugh and a wave of her hand. Luckily for her, Naruto was oblivious to the girls behavior and said nothing more. Wiping the smile off her face she went back into a serious mode. She walked towards the boy who stood as still as a statue. Naruto frowned when the girl walked right passed him but gasped when he felt her hands from behind him. Starting at the nape of his neck, Sakura guided bother her hands down the smooth back. Naruto shivered at the contact. His heart began to beat faster. She moved her hands back up to the spot where the boys wings connected to his back. The beating got harder and harder. Naruto would have been surprised if she didn't notice. The wings were definitely real- there were no strings or straps holding them to his back. Ignoring the beating she felt on his back, she grabbed a hold of a wing in each of her hands and tugged to make sure they were really connected, but as soon as she did it she was met with a jerk from the wings. With a yelp, she retracted her hand and stepped back.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! My wings are kinda sensitive!" Naruto apologized profusely.

Sakura just smiled and laughed.

"It's fine Naruto relax- it just startled me. I forgot you could move them. I think I'm starting to believe you." Naruto smiled.

"But I felt your heartbeat. Aren't angels... dead?"

"Well yes and no. We're dead and all but when you die you never loose your heart!" Naruto replied happily.

"Sounds kinda cheesy huh?"

"A little." Sakura smiled. The two were left in a silence until it was broken with a loud grumble. Sakura grabbed her stomach and blushed.

" Hehe... I guess I'm hungry. I think I dropped the food my friend gave me in the alley." She laughed.

"Who Ino?"

"Yeah... Wait. How did you know her name?! Don't tell me you're stalking her too!" Sakura started.

"I TOLD YOU I'M NOT A STALKER WHY DON'T YO BELIEVE MEEEE?!" The boy complained.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. So how do you know her?" Naruto pouted but continued.

"She's part of Angel's Armada. She's a D.A too!" Naruto ended happily.

"Are you serious??!! AND THAT BITCH NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING!"

Startled by the outburst Naruto regrouped as quickly as he could.

"Don't blame her! She couldn't tell you because she's not allowed to mention it to anyone outside of Angel's Armada- it has to be kept secret for the protection of the members. Besides you probably would have found her insane."

"Yeah well. She's still a bitch.." Sakura huffed. Another growling echoed in the room.

"Oh right! You have to eat!" Naruto grinned and made his way into Sakura's kitchen. The dumbfounded look on the girls face followed the blond as he opened cabinets of food and pots and pans (which, of course, ended up tumbling out with a loud clutter on top of him.) 'There is a half naked angel making me breakfast in my kitchen' Sakura thought with a glazed shake of her head. 'Wait. He's half naked.' Regretfully, she reached down for the black shirt the boy had pulled off and threw it at him, covering his face.

"Put your shirt back on." Sakura said. Naruto smirked.

"You shouldn't be talking." He answered as he pulled the shirt over his head. Sakura looked down and and gasped.' SHIT! I'M STILL IN A TOWEL!' Blushing, she gave Naruto an angry look and trotted to her room closing the door leaving a chuckling Naruto.

In an empty parking lot, three figures stood back to back. Their panting breaths were the only noises that could be heard.

"Chouji, you okay?"

"I'm fine Shikamaru. It's just a scratch. " Chouji replied, though he was panting the heaviest.

"Well that's a pretty bad scratch." Ino studied the so called "scratch" on Chouji's left wing.

"That demon got you good. We can have Tsunade look at it but next time why don't you move your fat ass out of the way before me and Shika have to save it?" Ino whispered furiously.

"GOD DAMN IT INO I'M NOT FAT I'M JUST-"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP? Don't forget! The battle isn't over." Shikamaru ordered. He loved his team dearly but sometimes they could be really stupid. The bickering stopped immediately and the three stood silently once again.

"UNDERNEATH US!" Ino shouted- all three leaped out of the circle they had created just in time before the ground beneath them exploded into a volcano of debris. A huge demon had shot upwards in a spin. His face was plastered with a manic grin.

"HAHAHAHA! YOU THREE ARE PRETTY GOOD!" He screamed in torment. As soon as he appeared a barrage of smaller demons had come out of their hiding and surrounded the team in a circle. The three immediately regrouped.

"What now Shikamaru?" Ino shouted. 'Boy are we fucked.'

"Shut up and let me think!"

"WELL WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME NOW DO WE?!"

"Ino calm down!" Chouji yelled. At times like this he was happy he had given up his role as troop ten's leader. Shikamaru was best suited for the job- but they really were in trouble if his best friend didn't come up with a plan soon. The demons began to open their black wings with grins on their faces, ready to kill. Each of the thin leather wings that was outstretched showed a scar from battle or even one from their own group. Some were so severe it was a miracle that they could still fly. Sharp talons at the tips and the edges of the wings stretched like a cat's claws and three of them pounced. With a a flap of his wings, Chouji sent a burst of wind at the demons who were lifted up and slammed into the building behind them. As more pounced he continued the bursts of wind, but he was getting too weak. A demon that had made it through the last gust of wind had begun spin towards Chouji, but just as it made contact with his wing, Ino's foot went slamming into the demon sending him into the ground with a crack. He could feel the poison from the demon's talon begin to spread through his wings. He wouldn't be able to fight much longer and Chouji's poor wing was an example of what would happen to the team if they didn't move. Through his pain, Chouji smiled as Shikamaru touched the tips of his fingers together, forming his fingers into a circle. 'He's got a plan. Just a little bit longer.' He thought. After a few more attacks reflected by Ino and Chouji Shikamaru's eyes shot open.

"Chouji. Are your wings too damaged to fly us up?"

"No. I can handle it!" Chouji was willing to endure anything for his team.

"Okay good! Fly us up! We need to find where the sun rises!" With that Ino and Shikamaru latched their hands onto Chouji's wrists. As they lifted off the ground, the army of demons leaped in sync at the team. The odds were against them; they were outnumbered, injured and tired, but they needed to keep fighting. Angels were much stronger fliers than demons, even if Chouji wasn't the fastest around and he was carrying extra pounds with a wounded wing, Shikamaru had all the faith in the world entrusted into his teammates. As they reached above the buildings Ino shouted.

"THERE!" She pointed to a faint, gold horizon, miles away. Right before the demons could get a hit Chouji burst through the sky as fast as he could towards the sun.

"C'mon Chouji! LET'M EAT YOUR DUST!" Ino cheered him on, giving him a jolt of energy. Before they knew it they were blinded by the beautiful light of the sun. A fresh, warm, power flowed through the teams veins as the three were rejuvenated by the sun's rays. Spinning around with Ino and Shikamaru still latched to his wrists, Chouji faced the demons.

"It's still useless. Your still outnumbered!" The head demon shouted as he charged with his army in toe.

"You know, we control the daytime around here." Shikamaru taunted with a smirk.

"Lets do it!" Ino shouted.

Together, the three closed their eyes and focused their energy. With a glow they shouted their names:

"Ino!"

"Shika"

"Chou!" And on Chouji the energy was focused into his wings and he flapped them with incredible force. Accompanied with a white blinding light, the power traveled on the wind and blasted into the demons. Before the demons had time to scream, they disappeared into the light. Panting, the three landed clumsily on the top of a building where Chouji collapsed. Ino and Shikamaru caught the boy and sat him up.

"I'll find Tsunade." Ino said and without another word she sprinted off from roof to roof.

"Nice job buddy. You did good." Shikamaru smiled.

"Hehe... thanks Shika."

"Does it still hurt?" Shikamaru studied his friend's wing.

Chouji folded them from sight and smiled. Even if the pain was excruciating, it didn't beat the happy feeling he had. He was not exactly the best warrior of all the angels so every big victory like this one was something for him to be proud of.

"Yeah but I'm fine! Honest!"

"Once Tsunade heals you we still have to go the meeting. If you don't feel up to it you don't have to go. I still have to whether I like it or not." He sighed "How troublesome."

Chouji laughed.

"Lazy bastard."

Sakura's apartment was finally lit up by the morning sun but it went unnoticed as the two continued the conversation they had started house ago, enjoying each others' company.

"She really did it I'm not kidding!" Despite the fact that her sides were hurting from all the laughing she had been doing, she couldn't hold in the next wave that came. Naruto held onto the counter holding his stomach as his shoulders moved up and down in laughter.

"Aw man you gotta' love her!" Naruto giggled as he wiped the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Naruto had decided to make Sakura a giant breakfast of omelettes, toast, hash browns and fresh squeezed orange juice. She had never eaten something so delicious in her life- and that was saying something considering the fact that breakfast was her least favorite meal of all. After offering him some of the food he made he replied with a shake of his head.

"No thanks, I don't eat." He had smiled.

"Oh right. Hehe.. forgot! Sorry!" She opened the cabinet doors to put some mixing ingredients away when a yell rang out.

"WAIT! YOU HAVE RAMEN!!!!????" The angel yelled but froze as soon as he saw the look on Sakura's face. She looked spooked but it was covered up by the flour that had exploded all over her when the boy had yelled. That's when the laughter had begun.

After speaking more of the Angel's Armada, they had moved onto the subject of Ino, now that they had established that they were both friends with the blond girl. Sakura had just finished her story of "Truth or Dare" when she and Ino were at a party when they were younger. Ino had been dared to rub her butt on a window for two minutes straight and ended up breaking the window with her ass earning herself a scratch on her left butt cheek. Tenten's mother had to bandage her up and from that day Ino had never forgiven Tenten.

After the laughter subsided Sakura took a look at her clock.

"It's already 8:30. What time is the meeting again?" Sakura asked.

"Oh we've got plenty of time. It starts at 10:30. It'll only take us about five minutes if we fly."

"Fly? But I can't fly... or can I?" Sakura pondered, looking out the window.

"Hehe nope. You can't fly Sakura. Don't go jumping out a window." Naruto responded

"Oh." Sakura frowned. "It would be awesome though."

"Well, you might be able to do something like it after some training." He replied quickly after looking at the girl's sad face.

"I'm gonna' go through training?"

"Well if you decide to become part of the troop." She had still not given an answer to the question.

"So. Will you?" He pleaded.

Sakura took a good look at the boy. 'He's really determined isn't he?' she thought. 'What do I have to lose?'

"Of course I will Naruto." She smiled.

"YES!" Naruto threw his arms up in victory and reached over to the girl beside her and gave her a bone crushing hug.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU THANK YOU!!!"

"Naruto stop.. I.. can't... can't..breath.. Naru-" She struggled but was only overpowered by the avalanche of thank yous coming from the angel. With a giant push the angel fell on his butt still grinning from ear to ear. Sakura grabbed her throat and started breathing again.

"Your going to kill me one day." She complained.

Naruto chuckled.

"C'mon! Let's get there early so you can meet the others! Besides, I've been late for the past twenty meetings anyway. I could be early for a change!" The boy leaped to his feet and grabbed her hand, ignoring the stuttering questions coming from her mouth. Before she knew it, the boy had leaped out of the open window with her hand still in his.

"HOLY SHIT!! NARUTO STOP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The sidewalk below was coming closer and closer at an alarming rate. The girls grip on the blond's hand tightened. Opening his wings, he smoothly lifted above the waves of air and reached above the city buildings. The girl opened her eyes and yelped, as the city became smaller. Naruto decided to have a little fun. Pulling the girl's arm up she flew into the air as he let go. Another scream was emitted from her pretty lips and she stopped for a second in mid air. Right before gravity pulled her down, the boy flew up and caught her swiftly, holding her bridle style. As soon as she felt the angel catch her, her arms flew around his neck in a death hold.

"I SWEAR IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!" She screamed, though it was muffled for her face was buried into the crevice of the angels neck and shoulder. With a laugh the boy answered.

"Well if you beat me up now what would happen to you?" The girl looked up leered at the boy until she realized where she was and her eyes widened. She quickly resumed her position buried in the angel.

"Sakura-Chan don't worry. I'm not gonna' drop you, I'm not that clumsy!" But the girl didn't move. Instead he felt the form in his arms begin to shake.

"Hey..." Naruto began to get worried. He didn't mean to frighten her _that_ much- he was only messing around!

"I promise I won't hurt you Sakura. Open your eyes." He pleaded. She shook her head.

With a frown the boy rose higher into the sky. He spotted a flock of geese that formed a V. He slowly drifted towards them. The soft honking of the geese grew stronger and stronger till they were right beside them. Sakura open her eyes to see what was going on. Her instincts told her to hold on again for dear life; the sky was no place for a human. But the scene before her made her stop. The sun rested over the soft white clouds and it reflected beautifully with the angel's wings. The world was so different above the ground. With the city out of sight, everything seemed so calm, peaceful and luminescent. Another honk irrupted from behind and her head spun around. There, a flock of white snow geese were intently watching the girl- but they weren't frightened. One goose in particular caught the girls attention. It was smaller than the rest and its wings were not fully fledged and yet it kept flapping as hard as it could with all its might.

"It's his first time flying too." Naruto began "It's always scary your first time. Even I was scared. Well actually I really sucked... I would have died if Iruka wasn't there!" The girls eyes widened and turned her head to the boy who immediately corrected himself.

"But that was years ago! I'm a much better flier now!" He laughed uncertainly. The boy gave a thankful sigh when the tense girl relaxed.

"I guess he was born a little late." Naruto continued.

"But the geese would have stayed with him if he needed more time to practice flying. A goose is never left behind in a flock. Thats why we admire them so much. They are very loyal creatures." Sakura's eyes were still focused on the flock behind her while Naruto's stayed on the path before him.

"Right now I'm leading the flock because I'm up front. I'm plowing a path in the sky so it's easier for the geese to fly- especially the little one over there." He nodded his head to the little goose behind them.

"We all help each other out. So you don't have to be afraid Sakura. I'll help you too." Slowly, the flock began to descend through the clouds and take their own route as Naruto continued to fly straight ahead. Sakura watched the little goose take the angels position at the front of the flock before they disappeared behind the clouds. Her eyes finally moved up to the boy holding her. His face held a content smile that almost looked like he was ready to fall asleep. She noticed the sky had turned from a light blue to an intense yet soft orange, red and yellow sky. It was turning back to night. How long had they been flying?

But Sakura was too tired to think anymore. The wind that she had expected to deafen her ears was only a light breeze and the warmth coming from the angel or the sun (she didn't know which, nor did it matter) was lulling her to sleep. As the sun faded behind the clouds, her eyes closed. Naruto looked down at the girl in his arms breathing softly and smiled. She wasn't holding on anymore.

* * *

OK done with chapter three! YAAAAAY! Sorry about the cheesy-ness of the chapter- I couldn't help it! Besides cheesy stuff is usually true anyway. But any-who I think my next chapter might be delayed like this one unfortunately. I don't have to write any more essays but now I need to _present _them. It never ends does it. I think I'll be able to get it up a little sooner than this one though!

That part with the truth or dare thing actually happened to one of my friends at a party a couple years back. I decided to add that as a little piece of humor!

Please keep reading and reviewing (I know it's repetitive but reviews are very important to me!)

I'd like to thank those of you who have commented on my chapters so far. I really appreciate it!


	4. Chapter 4: Heaven and Earth's Alley

A/N: LONG TIME NO SEE GUYS! MY COMPUTER IS FINALLY FIXED!

I really didn't expect it to take this long so I'll ramble at the bottom... hope you enjoy!

(the thoughts have now been changed from 'blah blah' to _blah blah_)

Chapter 4: Earth's Alley

Sakura awoke without opening her eyes to the fluttering of wind. Her lips curved up in a content smile as she took a deep breath of fresh air, but furrowed her eyebrows when she realized how cold it was. With her smile fading to a slight frown, she reached over to the source of body heat beside her and buried her face in the soft fabric. She inhaled again, this time taking in the faint, yet pleasant scent of cinnamon and vanilla. With the patterned beating in the fabric she was clinging on to, she almost dozed off until her blanket vibrated. Her green eyes opened abruptly and she gasped when she realized where she was, gripping the fabric of the angel's shirt once again. Naruto continued chuckling as he observed the startled girl.

"I thought we were all over your little fear of flying."

Sakura pulled her face out of the fabric of his shirt and narrowed her eyes in a glare.

"Well it's not something you can get used to in a couple of hours!" she retorted.

Gathering her wits Sakura twisted her head around to see where they were. The sky had returned to it's daytime blue and all that could be seen below were the white fluffy clouds that separated the sky from the earth below. The girl looked down at her watch.

"It's still only 9:30?"

Naruto turned his head down to get a glance at her watch.

"Yep. 9:30!"

Sakura looked intently at her watch, tapping it as though it would give her the time she expected.

"But it was turning to night again before I fell asleep. It's already daytime?"

"I changed direction a couple of times. We flew to where the sun set, and now we're back where the sun is risen." Naruto responded with a grin.

"I thought you said we were going straight to the meeting." Sakura turned her face from the watch to the boy.

"I thought you should get the hang of flying since your gonna' be doing a lot of it. But we'll go back if you want."

Sakura took one last look at the sky. Turning back to the angel she nodded.

The blond turned his face back up to the sky. The soundless flapping of his wings ceased and the two began to drift slowly down. Not knowing what to expect from the clouds that were steadily coming closer, Sakura's grip tightened on the boy. She gasped as Naruto's wings curled around them both before the white clouds engulfed them. She was suddenly enclosed like a cocoon in warm white wings with only the light protruding from the little openings between feathers. It felt...safe.

Sakura said nothing but tightened her grip even more on the angel and opened her eyes only when she felt the warmth of Naruto's wings leave her. The clouds were gone and the world below was revealed- a hustling, bustling city with people oblivious to the two flying right above them. Sakura flinched as she felt a droplet of water on her nose and she looked up. The angel's wings glistened with water, making the wings look even more elegant than they already were. She turned her face back down to the ant like figures that began to look more like people. She couldn't help but think of the eyes that could be watching her. Couldn't they see her? Couldn't they see Naruto? Pushing the thoughts to the back of her head she readied herself for a landing in the middle of an abandoned park. The angel's speed was steadily increasing as he neared the ground. Before their feet touched the ground, a gust of wind from Naruto's wings stopped them in midair, hanging them an inch above the ground. Gently removing his hand from the underside of Sakura's legs he let her feet find the ground. Shakily, she rested her weight on the pavement with the help of Naruto's hand grasped firmly around her own. _Damn it, I feel like a freakin' baby. I can barely walk!_ She took two shaky steps before she was fully able to move her legs in a (close to) normal fashion. She took a moment to look at her surroundings.

It was odd that there were no children in the park. The leafless trees were softly blowing in the wind along with the childless swings and the birds singing their unique melodies..._So peaceful... _Naruto took one last look at the girl before he let out a soft sigh and regretfully released her hand. After a couple more steps the girl twisted her head around and smiled.

"Thank you Naruto." She giggled when the half closed eyes of the blond opened wide and his mouth opened ever so slightly in surprise.

"So when are we gonna' get going?" She asked.

After blinking his wide eyes twice, Naruto shook his head and replaced the dumbfounded look with a grin that mirrored that of a fox's. Three marks on each cheek like whiskers adorned his face. _Were they there before? _She hadn't noticed them- even after she had spent hours talking face to face with the angel. _Strange..._ She broke out of her thoughts when Naruto began to speak.

"Right now! I think you already know some of the people there actually... well except of the rest of the angels obviously but-" Naruto suddenly stopped and tilted his head up. With a slight frown, he soundlessly sniffed the air. Sakura was beginning to get nervous.

"What is it?" Sakura asked moving in an instant to the angels side. Something wasn't right- even she could feel it in the air. The snow that had fallen the night before still freshly coated the ground and the air should have been cold and crisp, yet it was hard to breath. The soft rustling of the trees were silenced as well as the birds that had been singing, leaving only the creaking of the nearby swings. She looked up at the angel to read his face. Fully concentrated he furrowed his brows and pursed his lips.

"Stay close to me... they're here."

Before she could ask who, he moved forward, each of his steps echoed in the empty world that had consumed them. Sakura didn't hesitate to follow and grabbed onto his coat, trailing behind him like a little child.

Her feet were so heavy she could barely move them and each step took an agonizing amount of strength. She stopped abruptly. _No way... I'm not taking ONE more step... _She let go of the angel and firmly planted her feet on the ground. Before her was the alley where the demons attacked her. With all the proof she had gotten, she definitely believed the demons were real though she still wasn't sure of what they were capable of. As though he could hear he thoughts Naruto reached a hand out and grabbed her wrist gently.

"Trust me Sakura. I won't let them hurt you."

She took a look at the boy before her. No matter how much she wanted to trust him, she still questioned the hand that was held out for her to take in her own. The voice inside her head spoke up. _Well... what do you really have to loose?_

The girl placed her hand on top of his and they moved forward together. Sakura could feel a cold, beyond the winter weather invade her shivering body and the steam condensed from her mouth into the air. She noticed that some parts of the alley were colder than the others and she cuddled closer next to the body beside her. Naruto's eyes slowly covered the area as though he could see through the walls- if Sakura could actually see something other than the bricks she would think he was challenging somebody... or some_thing. _Suddenly, out of the shadows a black arm stretched out to grab Sakura by the ankle. She let out a small scream of surprise that triggered Naruto's attack In a heartbeat he positioned himself between Sakura and the demon slowly seeping through the wall with a hungry grin on it's face. The blond's wing was lifted up high and fiercely crashed down onto the arm snapping it clear off. The demon was sent cowering back into the shadows with a screech. The arm around Sakura's ankle melted like black ice but her attention caught something else.

The angel before her, the one who was so gentle with her, had just given her an example of just how powerful he was. _Deadly_ even Just like she could feel the cold of the demons, she felt his power, though it was heat that radiated off of the angel. The ground below them still trembled after the earthquake caused by the wing had split part of the ground in half. _Are all angels this strong? _Who was more dangerous? The demon or the angel? Those soft wings she had felt only hours ago were now dense and drooped to the ground as though they were weighted. His feathers began to litter the ground as they fell one by one like dead leaves from a tree.

Naruto was angry and more defensive than usual- though Sakura wouldn't have understood it since she had never seen him in battle. But it bothered him that the demons would attack Sakura before him. Either way a demon was demon and yet his tolerance was lowered even more than it already was when they would harm a friend rather than he himself. Worried that she might think him a monster with the little power he had released, he took her hand again and pulled her close.

Sakura squinted her tearing eyes and covered her mouth with the hand not occupied with Naruto's. The stench of death was overpowering all of her senses as another demon lunged- this one was not as lucky as the last. As it charged, Naruto's wing lashed up and flung the demon straight into the sky leaving a trail of inky black substance in it's wake. Sakura marveled at the work of the angel as he disposed of the demons as though they were nothing but flies... but they kept coming.

"How many are there?" Sakura asked as she shielded her face from the black blood that splattered from the last attack.

"I'm not sure, but these demons-" with a kick, another went flying into the wall, "-have already fought-" a punch "-and by the looks of it-" Sakura ducked as a severed leather wing narrowly missed her head, "they lost the battle."

The attacks ceased and Naruto straightened his posture searching for any more challengers.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as she peaked behind the white wing.

"All of the demons that have been attacking us are wounded. They must've fought recently and lost. There probably weren't any deaths for them to feed off of, otherwise they wouldn't be attacking us in the daytime. They're restless." He took another sniff at the air and his wings twitched in excitement.

"I'll put an end to this."

Another demon jumped from the shadows and Naruto reached out his hands. As soon as the demon was about to strike the angel closed his hands on the ends of the black wings. The creature began to flail and lash out at anything it could blindly- Sakura could see what Naruto had been saying. The demon's wings were already torn to shreds and blood flowed freely from it's wounds. It was almost sad how helpless the monster was in the hands of the angel, though Naruto did nothing but hold it just out of striking distance.

"Where's your captain?" Naruto spoke firmly.

"FUCK YOU!" the creature spitted as it clawed its fingers into Naruto's arms- though it didn't seem to have any effect on the angel. Sakura flinched as a scream was emitted from its mouth. It turned its blood red eyes to Sakura and bared it's yellow fangs in a grin. Drool was dripping from its bleeding gums and it stopped flailing. _Okay. maybe I don't feel too bad for them..._

Her body froze when a shadow behind her moved. She felt the shift of Naruto's wing as he prepared to dispose of the demon behind them until she turned on her heel to face it. _What am I doing just standing here? These littles shits are nothing! _And with that, Sakura reached her fist back and slammed it through the demons stomach. Both Naruto and the demon he was holding stopped to stare at the girl.

"Shit..." Naruto blurted out with a surprised chuckle.

Sakura giggled oddly. She brought her arm back covered in the foul smelling blood. The pulverized demon landed dead with a thud on the black pavement.

"Ew..." She studied the black substance on her arm and tried to wipe it on her jeans, but the unnatural feeling of the creature's cold blood still latched to her skin.

With one last glance at his teammate, Naruto turned to the demon that was no longer grinning.

"So?"

The demon did not respond.

"Why do we need to find the leader- can't we just get out of here?" Sakura asked hopefully. Even if she had calmed down a bit, this wasn't a place she particularly enjoyed.

"These guys are just pawns." He spoke as he kept his unblinking eyes entwined with the demon's. "They follow a leader and if that leader isn't taken out, they will continue to kill." He turned his head to the girl. "Sakura I don't want you to get close to their captain if it appears. They're a lot stronger than these things." He nodded his head to the demon in front of him that continued its worthless struggle.

"Yeah..." She returned to Naruto's side where his wings formed a protective barrier around them.

The little demon stopped his moving. His face broke into another smile full of glee- like an excited child.

"HE'S HERE! HE'S HERE!YOU'RE GONNA' GET IT YOU LITTLE FUCKERS!" The demon gave a loud crazy laugh as he bounced up in down in Naruto's grip. It was bizarre that something as gruesome as this little bloody demon could be so happy and obviously, it couldn't be a good sign.

Her assumption was proven right when the demons face went blank. Sakura moved closer to get a look at what the demon was doing when it let out a screeching howl and flailed harder and faster than it had before. The demon's eyes shot open wide and a black vapor like hand exploded through its chest- quickly accompanied by five others throughout its body. Naruto released the grip on the twitching body and it dropped to the ground in a splatter of black blood. Sakura grabbed onto the angel as the echoing steps of the black figure behind the corpse came closer.

"It's about time you showed up." Naruto smiled. Sakura could hear the anticipation in his voice.A bone chilling chuckle came from the shadows.

"Don't get so excited you little brat... I could tear you to shreds in one go.. My little pawns are nothing compared to me." The growling voice left a rumble in the air. The demon stepped out into the light to reveal himself. Sakura gasped.

This one was definitely different than the others. He was at least two times bigger than Naruto and his giant leather wings stretched from one side of the alley to the other. His tattered black clothes had been shredded by something huge- an explosion of some sort. Across both wings and across his chest was a giant white scar- holes had even been put through the wings. Where his left eye should have been was an empty socket, but he still walked forward with smile placed firmly on his damage face.

"You're really messing with the wrong guy pal." Naruto said threateningly.

"Oh am I?" The demon responded. His head shot up and his remaining eye opened up wide.

"WELL WE'LL JUST SEE ABOUT THAT!" It screamed as his feet lifted off the ground. The talons aligning the tops of his wings jutted forward as he prepared to impale the two. Sakura grabbed onto Naruto ready for him to take off but instead he took a step forward and opened his wings.

"WHAT ARE YOU-"

"GET BEHIND ME!" Naruto shouted. Sakura twisted her body around the angel and wrapped her arms around his stomach from behind. Closing her eyes tight she buried her face in his back between the wings._ What the hell is he doing?! _

Just when she though the body in front of her was going to be ripped to shreds she heard a clash of something the sounded like metal against metal and a ripple was sent through the angel's body. She pushed off of the back to take a look at the scene. Naruto's feathers had hardened like shining white glass- it was just as he had done when he battled the demon pawns but this time the burst of power was constant. The angel and the demon were in a stare down of blue eyes versus red with their hands clasped violently together along with their wings pushed against each other. It was a game of chicken; whoever gave up first and pushed away was the loser but, considering the smirks on their faces, neither was planning on letting up anytime soon.

"This is the second time I've been surprised in battle today... You're not too bad kid. But I'm not gonna give up... besides," the smirk grew wider "you're not the one I'm after."

Six black vapored arms that had, only hours ago, destroyed a demon, stretched out from the demon's back and shot towards Sakura. Naruto bared his teeth and added two times the force to his wings and pushed down harder against the demon's, but it was too late. The arms had constricted her body and she fell to her knees. She opened her mouth to try and breath but only a croak came out as she gasped for air.

"YOU BASTARD! LET HER GO!" He growled through clenched teeth. The demon's smirk only stretched and he applied more force to his own wings. Naruto's feathers began to shed at an alarming rate and his eyes began to turn into a shade of red.

"Oh ho ho waddu' we have here?" The demon chuckled. The eyes that looked back at him were not that unlike his own- red pools that shook with fury. The demon's power was increasing more and more as the life was being sucked from Sakura.

A gurgling growl was emitted from the angel's throat. The demon's eyes widened when he realized the power coming from the little angel he was intertwined with. With a step forward Naruto poured all of his strength into his solid wings. The demon trembled as his own wings failed him with a loud '_CRACK'_ of breaking bones. The black arms strangling Sakura immediately released her and retreated back to the screaming demon. She took a look at her savior; eyes in a deep crimson were glaring at the now helpless demon that fell to his knees before him. A red glow surrounded the angel and the markings on his face had become darker and more pronounced. His clawed hands, as sharp as his bared fangs were balled in fists. With the little ounce of strength she had, Sakura pushed herself from the ground and got to her feet.

"NARUTO!" She screamed as her feet automatically moved her forward. But the angel didn't respond. She launched herself at him and reached her arm out.

"NARUTO! SNAP OUT OF IT!" She yelled as she grabbed the boy's arm. As soon as her small hand touched the glowing arm, the red cloak surrounding the boy's body dispersed and his face turned to the horrified look on the girl's face. Though the marks on his cheeks were still more prominent than before, his eyes had gone back to their sapphire blue. His face was void of anger and replaced with a look of worry and surprise.

"Sakura-Chan?" The boy questioned. He stared blankly at the girl with glazed eyes. At a loss for words at the angel's strange behavior, she just held onto his arm and stared into his eyes. Blinking a couple of times, his eyes focused.

"Are you okay?" He placed both his hands on her shoulders and stared into her eyes. The corners of Sakura's mouth curved slightly upwards into small smile and she nodded.

"OH THANK GOD!" The angel blurted out as he grabbed Sakura in a giant bear hug. Struggling against the chest her face was smothered in, Sakura pushed hopelessly muffling out as much as she possibly could.

"Naru..geofff...me...FUC-" With a giant shove the angel nearly tripped over his feet but caught himself at the last minute. He looked stupidly over at Sakura and laughed nervously raising his hands in a surrender as the disheveled girl raised hand in a threatening fist, shooting daggers from her eyes.

"Jesus fucking Christ..." She muttered as the boy cowered behind his hands with his shoulders hunched. Naruto had battled countless demons but _damn. _Sakura was fuckin' scary.

"HEHEHEHE..."

Both jumped and turned their heads to the demon that lay forgotten on the ground.

"Both of you... will lose you lives being careless like that..." The demon growled under the

black messy hair covering his face. With an earth shattering scream, a large buzzing of wings filled the air. From each shadow came a demon pawn until the sky was covering in black winged creatures. Naruto grabbed the frozen Sakura and leaped into the sky avoiding the the swarm of sharp talons that were closing in on them. Landing on the roof of a building, Naruto held Sakura close.

"I need you to do something Sakura!" Naruto said quickly as the swarm turned their attention upwards towards their pray.

"WHAT?" Sakura managed to blurt out as the wind was knocked out of her from another leap. Her eyes widened when she saw the damage done to the spot they had just been on. The debris of the side of the building fell into the alleyway with a quake.

"I need you to think of something happy!" Naruto yelled over the screeching.

"ARE YOU SHITTING ME? HOW THE FUCK TO I THINK OF SOMETHING HAPPY WHEN-" The last word came out as a squeak when Naruto leaped again. With another harsh landing Naruto spoke again.

"I know it might be hard but I need your help. Think of something happy!" Naruto repeated.

"OKAY OKAY JUST KEEP MOVING!" She yelled as the barrage came back. Naruto quickly sprung back into the air.

Naruto looked down at the disgruntled look on the girls face. If he didn't get Sakura's help he would be in big trouble. No matter how weak these pawns were, he wouldn't be able to fight a whole army on his own. With a twist Naruto dodged another attack.

"SAKURA!"

"OKAY OKAY I'M TRYING!" The girl yelled frantically as she held herself closer to the angel.

"Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts...shit." The girl muttered over and over like a mantra. To her dismay, it wasn't working very well. When one is faced with an army of angry stinking creatures that look like gremlins, it's particularly hard to have good thoughts- especially for Sakura. After everything that had happened in her life, she couldn't think of anything happy. _What is wrong with me? _There had been so many tough times, but weren't there any good ones? She doubted picturing Ino's butt breaking through a window would be strong enough to do squat... But then what had she been so happy about when she was talking to Naruto?

Naruto stayed in the air rather than landing again- they had already made a huge mess._ Thank god nobody's around. _He thought. He could tell Sakura was trying to think of something but she couldn't do it.

"You need to relax Sakura. Think of anything that's ever made you happy." He wrapped his arms tighter around her and stopped the flapping of his wings as he covered the form in his arms like a cocoon, just as he had done earlier.

Sakura opened her eyes when the screeching suddenly died down into nothing and the only sound she could hear was a soft heartbeat echoing in her ears. If it was hers or the person she was holding onto, she didn't know, but whose ever it was, the patterned beating and the comfortable heat from the wings surrounding her calmed her into a peaceful state. _Something happy? Anything...Something..._

_happy...what had made her so happy that morning?_

Naruto smiled in triumph when a green light seeped through his wings. Opening them in one swift movement Sakura was revealed. She still held onto the boy with her eyes closed tightly, but a powerful green glow surrounded her body. The demons changed their direction for the last time and charged. Naruto closed his eyes as he began to focus his power. A blue glow slowly appeared until the angel and the girl were encased in a glowing sphere of green and blue. With a sharp movement of his wings, an invisible wave burst through the air. Sakura opened her eyes when she felt the same warm chilling ripple she had felt that first night. With a gasp she started.

A flock of shining blue butterflies swept past her face. They looked almost fake and so fragile that they could break at the faintest breeze. Their wings flapped slowly as though unaware of the battle before them. Time seemed to slow down...

But their peace broke when, on command, Naruto's wings reached forward, and the butterflies burst into a spiral towards the flying demons. A look of awe struck each pawn's face, stopping in midair before the beauty of the butterflies engulfed them. Sakura watched the endless waves of blue cascading through the sky. She looked to the side at the source of the butterflies- born from underneath Naruto's feathers. Reaching out her fingers, she put her hand in front of one of the white wings. As a butterfly flew out from under one of the feathers, it changed into a blue vapor and wove through her fingers. With a startled gasp she retracted her hand, fearing she had destroyed a comrade of some sort.

_But... are these even...real?_

The gentle creatures slowly parted from the tightly formed flock and branched out. The depressing alley was revealed. Naruto alighted down and placed the Sakura on the ground. His eyes never left the awestruck girl watching the butterflies above. The wind returned along with the sunlight that was filtering through the wings of the blue creatures. He watched the expression of pure joy fall to one of sadness as they slowly fell. One by one, a butterfly fell leaving a trail of golden dust in it's wake. Upon reaching the ground, clusters of flowers blossomed. Naruto watched the girl through the raining butterflies. She spotted one that hadn't fallen and reached out her arm. The fluttering butterfly landed on the tips of her outstretched fingers.

"Y'know they're usually afraid of everyone else except for me." The voice spoke from behind her.

Sakura turned toward Naruto who had his grin back on.

"And I've never seen them turn into flowers like that." He nodded his head towards the alley.

Sakura turned to look at the hellhole she had learned to hate so much- but it was transformed! Flowers crawled up the sides of the walls and the littered the ground. The dark alley was brightened by the sun above giving the flowers a surreal glimmer. She had never seen something more beautiful in her life.

A mixture of heaven and Earth in one alley...

A/N:

THE RAMBLING WILL NOW COMMENCE!

Once again I apologize to my readers that I posted WAAAAY later than expected but I was having major computer problems. But now that's fixed so I'll try to spit out a chapter once a week- unfortunately, as you all know from previous rambling, my teachers are CRAZY. However much I hate to admit it, school must come before the story (even though I love writing my stories so much more than school work!)

Thanks to all of my readers I've finally reached over 1000 hits! YAY!!!!!!

Please, I ask again, review!!!!! Any comments or suggestions would make me happy!

Anyway, this chapter is confusing AGAIN like the others (more will be explained in the next one) and you're all probably like "UUUHHHHHH WTF?" buuuuut it will make more sense later on.

I still can' believe I'm writing a story- I think this is the most I've ever written in my life!

The next chapter will be called "The Third Teammate"

Thank you again! You're all my favorite people ever!!!!!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5: Headquarters

A/N: Yes folks I'm still alive! I have not fogotten about you all! I will admiyt this is definetely not one of my favorites and AGAIN it is another "informational" chapter but it's important for the plot!

I'll stop my ramblings but PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM!

Chapter 5: Headquarters

Sakura wiped her mouth for the trillionth time with the napkin held in her hand. She sighed when she pulled it away from her lips to reveal fresh black liquid that she had been constantly spitting up. No matter how gross it was, Naruto had told her it was a good thing. If she had known that even _touching _a demon's blood would poison an "Existant", or whatever he called her, she would have been more careful than to shove her fist into one of their stomachs. 

"Once you kill the one that poisoned you, your body will naturally rid yourself of it! Lucky we killed 'em eh?" He had told her. But when was this going to stop? It was scary at first but now it was just... disgusting.

All the girl wanted to do now was take a shower, change her dirty clothes and go to sleep... _again._

But there were so many questions she wanted to ask, so many things she didn't understand- but whenever she tried to speak, the only think that would come out of her mouth was some more black crap. She stopped at the corner watching the busy people bustling about and the cars that trapped themselves in a constant battle of pointless honking. For god sakes the light hasn't even turned fucking green yet! She rolled her eyes but stopped when she realized that the people around her had been staring. She wanted to tell them to fuck off, but she re-framed and wiped her mouth once more. _I must look SO damn attractive right now. _She wobbled when the light changed and stepped down from the curb to cross the street. The boy walking beside her had given her enough heat to warm up from the demons cold aura, but she was still a bit off on her feet.

She let out a yelp when she tripped in a pothole in the middle of the street and landed face-first on the ground. _Maybe I should just stay down here. _She helplessly thought.Ignoring her internal half, she lifted her head up to see Naruto leaning against the street light, his shoulders bouncing with laughter. Sakura balled her fists and shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"SHUT UP NARUTO! YOU'RE SO IMMATURE! WHAT IF..." She yelled. Naruto took in the sight of the girl and drowned out the curses being constantly thrown at him. He couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for her- after all it _was _her first day on the job. Perhaps he should be a little more understanding. 

But all of his kind thoughts were shot down when a car began honking at the girl still sitting in the middle of the road. Sakura was still blurting out curses at the angel but stopped and turned to the car.

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP? JESUS CHRIST CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TALKING TO SOMEONE HERE?" She turned back to the boy with her mouth open to finish her (not too kind) sentence however she gritted her teeth when she realized the boy was laughing even harder than before.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY? YOU'RE NOT GONNA BE LAUGHING WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!" Naruto held his stomach with one hand and wiped the tears away from his face with the other.

"Y'know they can't even see me right?" He managed to snicker out. 

"You look _pret-ty _ridiculous right about now." He finally gathered his wits as Sakura stood with a little blush adorning her face. She hunched her shoulders and grumpily stomped past Naruto who giggled when he noticed a little boy pointing her out to a disgusted mother.

"Come on let's go! I wanna' get out of these shitty clothes." She looked down at her faded blue jeans that had soaked up most of (who knows who's) blood from the fight. Her red coat didn't look any better. Hell she looked like she had just come out of a horror film. _Not really far from it am I? _She thought. _How much time do I have now? _She looked down at her watch.

"Oh fuck me." She blurted out. The boy's giggling behind her immediately ceased at her words. Ignoring the (well welcomed) silence, she turned to the boy. His eyes were glazed over in a daydream with a smile and a slight blush on his face. 

"OY! YOU PERV!" Sakura yelled. The boy was snapped out of his wonderful daydream.

"Huh, whaddid you say Sakura -Chan?" He worded innocently. Sakura let out a sigh.

"If the meeting is at 10:30, then we're already-" she glanced at her watch again "- an hour and a half late." She looked up at the angel who grabbed her wrist. He looked at her watch and yelped.

"SHIT! COME ON WE GOTTA' GO!" With her wrist still in his hand, he bolted through the crowd.

"WAIT NARUTO!" Sakura tried to protest but her words were useless. Naruto's mind was set. _Stubborn asshole._

Sakura left a trail of scattered "sorries" and "excuse me"s down the sidewalk as she was slammed one after another into the people by the angel dragging her. Finally they got to a street that was quieter than the rest and stopped in front of a giant building. Naruto looked to his side and gave her an apologetic smile when he realized she looked even worse than she already had.

"Eh he he... sorry." Sakura was about to let him have it when she looked up at the building they had stopped in front of. The thing was huge- it was countless stories high, reaching to the clouds. It was, oddly, a perfect white and it looked as though it had just been made. The graffiti and dirty build up that stained most of the buildings in the city were absent and it's pure white reflected the light of the sun. Sakura looked around to see if anyone, out of the very few walking the street, recognized the outstanding creation. But none took any notice of it; they kept moving on their merry way as though it wasn't even there. Sakura looked back to the boy that had waited to give her time to take in the sight. Noticing that her gaze was back to him, he turned on his heel and walked towards the building. Sakura scurried to his side and grabbed his hand when they stopped at the door. Sakura stared blankly at the glass that separated them from the inside. She searched for an entrance along the sides but found no doors. She was about to ask Naruto when he reached to his side and plucked a feather from his wings. Stepping forward, he placed the feather in the middle of the glass. It rippled like water from the touch of the feather that began to sink into the glass. The glass wall continued a constant ripple and Naruto looked to he girl beside him.

"You ready?" Sakura smiled and nodded. He walked forward and stepped through the glass. Sakura hesitated before she went though but the hand that still held her own pulled her forward. She closed her eyes and walked into the rippling glass. She felt the cool vapor tickle her skin, and just like that, it was gone. She opened her eyes and gasped. The inside was just as white as the outside had been. It was separated into two hallways on the left and right side of a large front desk. Behind the desk were two tired looking men: one with Spiky black hair, the other with brown hair covered by a green bandanna. It was as busy as the streets. Angels and Existants alike- each moving about with an expertise intelligence of the place- people that were obviously very familiar with the building. Suddenly Sakura felt very out of place. She moved closer to the Angel.

"Sakura, welcome to the Angel's Armada Headquarters of Kohana." She took another sweep of the floor they were on until Naruto spoke again.

"Well we're already an hour and a half late. Let's not keep them waiting!" They began walking to the right hallway at a fast pace. 

"Yo Genma" Naruto quickly waved in greeting to the men behind the desks (one of which was fast asleep, face on the desk). Genma replied with a smile and a "Yo!" But Naruto had already zoomed past. Sakura had to jog to keep up with the Angel ahead of her. At another fork he turned left. She looked to the side where glass doors were set up along the halls, similar to the entrance. Inside she could see conferences and workrooms of all different kinds. They turned again to the right and headed straight down the corridor to a room at the end. Naruto repeated the action with his feather and they stepped through the liquefied glass.

As soon as they entered the small room a loud voice was shouted out to them.

"AH! HE FINALLY ARRIVES!" The booming voice came from a boy whose scruffy brown hair matched the dog like grin on his face. Falling down his cheeks were two tattoos; red shapes like upside-down triangles. His legs were crossed over a large white conference table that reached across most of the room and he rested his head against his folded arms. The room seemed to be crowded- some sitting in the black chairs lined along the table like the boy, some lingering together in corners of the room, and some staring out the window that lined the whole room.

"Congratulations Naruto you have officially beaten Kakashi on the latest member here!" He leaned back in the chair to nod to a man in the corner. Sakura noticed the wings that appeared behind the chair when the boy moved. The wings held a dirty tone to it, unlike Naruto's pure white and the feathers were as scruffy as his hair. Sakura turned her attention to the man the boy had just nodded his head to. He had shining gray hair that was shaped oddly to one side and he wore a black knitted turtleneck. Above the turtleneck was black mask made of thin mesh that covered his mouth. His faded jeans had several holes in them. He was holding a cup of coffee though Sakura didn't know how he was supposed to drink it when he was wearing a mask. The man they called Kakashi turned his head at the mention of his name. "Yo!" He raised his hand in greeting. Through the mask Sakura could see a smile. The man who had been talking to Kakashi brightened up as soon as he looked over.

"Hey Naruto!" His hair was pulled back in a high ponytail that stuck out and revealed a tan face and a scar across the roof of his nose. His hands were hidden in the coat that all of the angels wore alike. His wings were not as dirt colored as the other's but his they were tinted slightly gray; compared to Naruto's, his were short and a little more fluffy. It almost reminded Sakura of a chicken's wing.

"Why thank you Kiba I'm honored!" Naruto grinned as Kiba barked in laughter.

"And who's this?" Sakura yelped and jumped behind Naruto when Kakashi had appeared right in front of her leaning over to meet her level. He chuckled when Sakura blushed. 

"Yeah she's kinda cute!" Sakura yelped again when Kiba had appeared on her side studying her as Kakashi was doing. She looked around the room to find everyone slowly turning their attention to her. If it was possible she shrunk behind Naruto even more and the blush on her face rivaled the coat she was wearing.

"Okay guys chill out." Sakura thanked the boy internally when he moved his wings out to push the two away. When they took a step back he shifted to the side for Sakura to move next to him.

"This is Sakura. She's my new teammate!" Sakura stepped back when half of the overexcited people in the room stood up to greet her with smiles.

"Hey hey guys calm down." Sakura followed the voice to Iruka who was walking over. He stopped in front of her and put his hand out.

"Hello Sakura, I'm Iruka." 

"He-hello." Shakily she took the hand and shook it. Kakashi then presented his hand.

"Ah, sorry about that. It's not everyday we get new members." He chuckled and scratched the back of his head with the hand that wasn't shaking Sakura's. She slowly calmed down when she realized that they seemed to be normal people, until a boy leaped out of nowhere and grabbed her hand.

"HELLO SAKURA! YOUR NAME IS AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU ARE!" The boy bowed his head down and tickled her hand with his black hair. He shot back up and his hair fell into it's bowl shape. He wore a strange combination of a green fleece sweatshirt with green sweats. 

"I am Rock Lee! I am very honored to meet you Sakura-San. I would love to take you out for dinner!" The boy blasted through his words cheerfully. Sakura wordlessly stared at the boy with her hand still outstretched.

"Back off Lee!" Naruto frowned and pulled Sakura away from the overexcited boy.

"Awww wook at dat! Wittow Nawuto its getting jeawous! How cute!"

"I AM NOT!" Naruto puffed up his cheeks as a blush began to appear.

"Aw Naruto don't be shy! Besides you guys are both short enough for each other!" 

"OY!" Both Sakura and Naruto spoke up at the same time but immediately quieted down when they realized they both spoke a the same time. Naruto spoke over the people in the room who began to laugh.

"We're not short! You guys are just really tall! And your not even that much taller than me Kiba!" This only made Kiba laugh harder.

"Yeah yeah I'm sorry buddy." He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. His expression turned cold.

"By the way, Tsunade's gonna' neuter you when she comes back. She found out about the blow-up doll prank we played Ebisu."

"WHAT! HOW? What about you?" Kiba smiled sadly and pointed to a lump on the top of his head.

"You're next." Naruto gulped and trembled. Sakura was shocked that he was frightened this easily when an attack of an army of demons barely fazed him. _She must be pretty strong to make him that scared..._

"Yeah yeah that's nothing new." A boy with gray pants and a light v-neck shirt appeared from behind Kiba. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail similar to Iruka's, his hands were placed comfortably in his pockets and his face was plastered with boredom. Naruto smiled.

"Wow you actually got up Shikamaru!" Naruto teased. Sakura's eyes widened.

"Shikamaru? You're here too?" Sakura smiled. Naruto looked from one to the other with a confused expression.

"You guys know each other?" They both nodded.

"Yep. We go to school together." Shikamaru answered.

"I met him through Ino." Sakura put her hands on her hips and smirked.

"I thought my stalker would know that." Naruto huffed and turned his head away from the giggling girl. Sakura jumped back again when Lee popped up.

"Sakura-San! You must excuse my beloved and talented sensei for not being here to introduce himself; he is currently on a mission and he could not make it to this meeting. But do not worry! I shall do it for him: his name is Maito Gai and he is the strongest angel in this UNIVERSE!" Lee shot a fist in the air and flames burst out of his eyes. Sakura looked to her side to catch Naruto's eye but he was staring at Lee with a bored glare. He turned to look at Sakura and rolled his eyes. _I guess this is what Lee is __usually like then. Wonderful. _She turned her attention back to Lee who had not stopped his babbling for one second.

"...and I am sure you will bring plenty of youth to A.A!" Lee ended impressively.

"Wow Lee...that's.. um... thanks?" Sakura replied to the boy. Lee grinned and shoved a thumbs up in her face. Sakura stared cross-eyed at the finger until somebody pushed the boy over.

"Sakura! I'm sorry about that!" Sakura refocused her eyes on the one speaking to her.

"TENTEN?" She jumped forward and gave her friend a hug. Pulling back from the hug Tenten smiled. She wore a white button-down shirt and dark blue jeans. Her hair was pulled back into two buns that sat at the top of her head.

"I can't believe you're here Sakura! Congratulations! I guess we'll have more to talk about then usual when we go back to school huh?" 

"Both of you! I can't believe I never knew..." Sakura faded out at a loss of words as she stared at her two friends. She couldn't help but feel a little left out. She had known Tenten for years and Shikamaru for a while, and yet she never even knew that they lived a whole new life apart from school. 

"Hey don't worry." Shikamaru placed a hand on her arm and smiled.

"We're still the same people Sakura and believe me, if I was allowed to, I would have told you about it. But you know..." Tenten chuckled and gave Sakura another hug.

"This must be pretty crazy for you but we're all here to help. I know it's pretty scary at first but everyone here is great. We're like family." Sakura grinned and nodded her head. She sighed.

"I still really can't believe this is happening."

"Y-yes it will take a while before you get used to it." A girl appeared before them with long black hair with bangs cut straight across. Her two index fingers were twiddling together under the overly large sleeves of her black turtleneck sweater. Sakura looked closer at the girls face and noticed that her eyes had no pupils- they were clouded white.

"Hello Hinata!" Naruto smiled. Sakura watched a blush appear rapidly on the girl's face and the sped of her twiddling fingers increased.

"H-hello, N-naruto-Kun!" The girl blurted out awkwardly.

"Sakura-San i-it was very nice t-to meet you!" The girl bowed quickly and with one more glance at Naruto she ran off.

"Man shes so weird around you Naruto." Kiba noted as he watched the girl sit down quickly at the end of the table with two other angels. Naruto nodded in agreement.

"Well, since they won't introduce themselves I'll do it for them." Sakura looked towards him questioningly.

"Those anti- social bastards back there are Neji and Shino." He nodded to the end of the table where Hinata had sat down. The two angels had heard him, but he got no responses- except for the same stoic expressions they kept on their faces (or what Sakura assumed would be behind the hood and sunglasses of Shino). Naruto turned back to Shikamaru.

"Hey Shikamaru." 

"Hm"

"Where's Chouji?"

"Oh right. He got hurt pretty bad in a battle we had this morning. Tsunade is fixing him up but he's fine. You're lucky we had that little run-in because she would've kicked your ass for being late again."

"Yeah well, I think I already have it coming." Naruto laughed. Kiba nodded grimly.

"So that must've been some fight if it put Chouji in that position." Shikamaru nodded.

"Actually we thought we were done for until it the sun rose and we got the upper hand. But still, I don't think we got'em all- only damaged them." Naruto frowned.

"How many were there?"

"Hundreds." Naruto's frown grew.

"And where exactly did this take place?"

"Towards the buildings a little ways from the abandoned park. Why?"

"It was you guys then! You left us a pretty nice fuckin' gift! We almost got the crap beaten out of us!" Naruto shouted at Shikamaru whose expression never changed.

"Huh. Didn't think you'd have to pick up the trash. But it's done anyway right?"

"It's not that simple!" Naruto rebutted. Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders.

"YOU LAZY ASSHOLE YOU COULD OF AT LEAST LEFT SOME SORT OF WARNING!"

"Would you even be able to recognize a warning if it was right in front of you?" Naruto's cheeks puffed out once again. Just as he opened his mouth to talk back he was elbowed in the gut by a black figure. He fell to the ground hard. Sakura found herself confronted with a pale boy that bent down slightly to look at Sakura's face. His smile made Sakura shiver.

"Hello. I'm Sai." The boy paused to think about something for a moment and opened his mouth again. "I think I'll call you Ugly." Sakura furrowed her eyebrows and clenched her hand in a fist. Naruto quickly raised himself to his feet.

"SAI YOU ASSHOLE TAKE IT BACK!" Naruto raised his wings up in a threat, but Sai didn't seem to take the hint. His very own wings rested peacefully on his back.

"Oh I'm sorry Naruto-Kun! Did I hurt you? I forgot you're as fragile as a woman concerning the fact that you have no-" He was interrupted when Naruto flung his fists (as well as a flow of rather "unkind" words) at the angel. Fortunately Shikamaru and Kiba were holding him back by his shoulders. 

"SHUT UP NARUTO!" A snarl rang from behind the glass. Sakura could have sworn the walls shook. Everyone in the room quieted down and turned to the glass doors. Kiba and Shikamaru stepped back from Naruto and suddenly he was left by himself in front of the door. Kiba jogged to the table but not before mouthing a "have fun" to Naruto. His wings sagged to the ground as the doors opened and he stared fate in the eyes. Without a word, the woman raised her fist and dropped it hard onto Naruto's head sending him into the ground.

"I'm sure you were the brains behind that right? You smart asses left me with an hour of bitching from Ebisu. He wanted to suspend you for god's sake!" Naruto slowly rose his head from the cracked floor and staggered to his feet. He grabbed his head in a daze and wobbled.

"Nobody here likes Ebisu either but you need to learn to control yourself." Tsunade's frown was placed firmly on her face and the two pig tails tied at her neck were barely disheveled. Tsunade's angry face disappeared when she laid her eyes on Sakura who was obviously frightened. With her former shield currently disabled and softly mumbling under his breath she had silently jumped behind Shikamaru.

"Ah, hello Sakura." Sakura shakily stepped out from behind Shikamaru and stepped in front of Tsunade cautiously.

"Are you...God?" Sakura questioned. The room irrupted in laughter including Tsunade herself. Sakura blushed and tried to hide herself by hunching her shoulders.

"Hell no! I'm Tsunade, Head of Angel's Armada. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Um... how do you... know me?" Sakura fumbled with her words. _ Damn it! I'm acting just like Hinata!_

"I've heard a lot about you from Naruto." She turned to the boy who was still cradling his head with one hand. He raised the other with a smile when he realized they were looking at him but put it down in a flash when Tsunade sent him a glare. She turned innocently with a smile on her face to Sakura who immediately straightened up.

"I'm sure you have many questions you'd like to ask and I'm sure Naruto has failed to explain anything to you."

"I-" 

"Shut up." Naruto immediately closed his mouth and walked off with a huff to sit next to Kiba.

"...Ugly bitch.." He muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Tsunade yelled after him.

"I have a fugly itch." He shouted back with an innocent smile.

"Smart ass." With a sigh she went back to Sakura.

"I'll answer any questions you have now that you're here." She tuned to everybody who had seated themselves at the conference table.

"I'm sorry we need to hold off the meeting a little while longer. Just... do.. whatever you do." She brushed her hand in the air and a soft rumble of conversation began.

"We'll sit over here." Sakura followed Tsunade over to a smaller desk set up at the end of the room. She took a seat and looked up to Sakura.

"You can sit down." Sakura slowly pulled the black chair out and sat on the edge of it with her back straight. Tsunade placed her elbows on the desk and placed her head on her folded hands.

"So. Ask me anything you want." Sakura opened her mouth as though she wanted to ask something but then closed it again.

"Well.. I have a lot.."

"It's okay. We have plenty of time." Sakura took a moment to gather her questions. She took a deep breath and began.

"I know that people that are still alive are called Existants. And I know that I'm considered a Destined Angel which means that I will have a power that allows me to be in the Angel's Armada." She stopped again.

"I'm guessing that everyone I've met that aren't angels are D.As and I'm sure that everyone here is part of a troop. Each troop's job is to protect everyone from demons, but, why are they attacking in the first place? Why haven't there been any reports on the news? Even if most people can't see angels... or demons, wouldn't they find it strange that these weird things were happening to them?"

Tsunade nodded.

"Existants aren't all that smart. In fact they are simply helpless stupid creatures, but they do make up the Earth's population and the future heaven so it is our job to protect them. They choose to ignore the unknown because it frightens them. Are you aware of how an angel gets their power?"

"Not exactly." Tsunade sighed.

"He really didn't tell you anything did he." Sakura shrugged and giggled.

"An angel gets their power from the sun. We also get power from Existants- however much I hate to admit it we depend on them. Every good feeling they have, every child that is born, gives us power. Demons however, are extremely different. In fact they are the opposite. They feed off the darkness in the night. They prefer to move in shadows when they are available and they feed off of the deaths of Existants. Before, they were happy with only the bad feelings and evil from the Existants but in the past several years, they have become threatening to Heaven and Earth as we know it. Rather than wait for death, they kill. Rather than wait for pain, they inflict it." Sakura's hands squeezed into little fists that rested on top of her legs.

"Before all of this we only disliked each other, and we only rarely fought. They took the evil to hell and we took the good to Heaven. Simple as that."

"So what caused their change in behavior?" Tsunade leaned back in her chair.

"A group called Akatsuki. They are the warriors of hell like Angel's Armada. A group of extremely skilled and deadly demons that match our own. They brought a new meaning of power to hell that the other demons craved. The thought of hell ruling all was tempting and so, they started their attacks."

"I don't see how them attacking everyone would make them more powerful. There will always be more people coming to Heaven to battle right? It's never ending."

"Well that's what we thought at first. But what's happening is that every time a person is killed by one of these demons, they are sent to hell- good or bad. The person is poisoned with a demons blood before they die which acts like a magnet to hell. It's a terrible and unfair death. When a demon kills an angel, they are gone for good. Heaven is shrinking while hell is filling up. If there is no one to fight them, it will be easy for hell to take over. If we destroy the ones responsible for leading the attacks, things will go back to normal."

"But how do you kill an angel or a demon when they're already dead?"

"Many Existants believe that their first death is their last. But there is a death beyond the first that not even angels or demons know what lies beyond. The second death is as much a mystery as the first is to the Existants. Do you understand Sakura?"

"I do."

"Another thing you must understand Sakura, is that not all angels are fighters Sakura." Tsunade pulled the front of the black coat between her thumb and forefinger and pointed with the other hand. Sakura leaned forward to get a closer look. The symbol had an earth with wings wrapped around it. In large capital letters on the wings were two A's crossed over one another.

"These clothes are our trademark to show that we are protectors. The majority of heaven is made up of normal Existants that have died. Compared to the number of fighters, we have a lot on our shoulders. Some of us are stationed on Earth and some are stationed in Heaven. Very few of the people who make their way to heaven will become part of A.A. I'm not sure you realize how important you are Sakura, along with everyone in this building." Sakura leaned back in her chair and looked out the window to see the city.

"No I don't. I'm just like every one of them: I go to school, I have friends..a job.. What would angels want with an Existant even if they're a Destined Angel?"

"It's true. An angel does have more strength than a D.A. It's easy to question why you are important." She paused to gather her words.

"For one, a D.A is the future of heaven. You could say you're like our children." Sakura pouted at being called a child. But Tsunade continued.

"When you find you team, you can practice for what's to come in the future. But what's more is that a D.A can give an angel incredible strength. Rather than the normal strength we get from the sun or from any other normal Existant, this kind is the most powerful. You could call D.A's the mediators of heaven and Earth- and they possess two traits. They have the powers an angel has, as well as an earthly side in which angels can nourish off of. The only way a D.A can use the powers is to borrow an angel's body; the D.A's power and the angel's very own power is combined and makes them two times as strong. When a D.A dies, their powers become theirs and theirs only. For every battle you fight with your teammates, you become stronger because the angels of a group will begin to adapt to their D.A's powers. Once a D.A dies, a bond is formed and the power between the D.A and the angel is kept." Tsunade finished but kept her eyes on the girl.

"Questions?" She looked over at Sakura who had her hand wrapped around her mouth in deep concentration.

"So these people, working in this building... are you guys the most powerful people in the world?"

Tsunade looked to the side in thought. She smiled.

"I would say so." She laughed at the surprised expression on Sakura.

"I know it's hard to imagine this dysfunctional group being an elite squad of warriors." She looked over to the white conference table. Sakura followed suit. Her eyes traveled to Kiba and Naruto who were balancing their chairs back. Both had their arms, leg and wings stretched out to steady themselves though the constant wobbling was evident. Both had stupid grins on their faces that uttered out childish giggles when one almost fell. Lee was enthusiastically counting aloud the seconds they had been balancing while throwing out words of support to both. Tenten, Choji and Shikamaru were laughing at the show the two were displaying while Hinata giggled politely next to Neji and Shino. 

"Awwww come on Neji! Why don't you join in on the fun!" Choji shouted. Neji turned his head away from the two balancing to glare at Choji.

"Because I'm not a retard." He stated simply.

"Ohhhh yeah." Sakura finally replied. A ring of "Oh"s rang out when both the chairs began to wobble violently and the two lost their balance. They thudded loudly against the ground and a rambunctious laughter rang out. 

"Well lets get this over with quickly. It seems our warriors are getting a little bored." Sakura nodded.

"I wanted to ask about today." Tsunade tilted her head to the side as if to ask a question.

"I guess you could say that I had my first actual battle today. I mean I didn't really do anything until the end. But I don't even know what I did... it just kind of... happened."

"Well, since you're both here and safe, I'm assuming you did well." Sakura nodded.

"All I know is that Naruto told me to think of something happy and when I did, I felt this power I never knew existed" Tsunade nodded her head.

"It all comes back to the bond with your teammates. Naruto became a vessel for you to let out your powers. You've always had this power, but you never had Naruto by your side." Sakura nodded to show that she was listening.

"This power is what we call chakra. Here, give me your hand. We're going to do a little practice. Oy! Naruto!" Tsunade called over to Naruto who was engrossed in a staring contest with Lee. When she got no response she yelled again.

"NARUTO GET YOU ASS OVER HERE!"

"Damn it!" 

"VICTORY! GAI SENSEI I WISH YOU COULD SEE ME IN ALL MY YOUTHFUL GLORY!" Lee leaped to his feet and pumped his fists upwards. Naruto grudgingly headed towards Tsunade. She gestured for him to sit down. He glared at her before he pulled a chair next to Sakura and sat down.

"What do you want old hag?" Naruto grumbled.

"NARUTO!" Sakura whacked Naruto in the back of the head.

"GAH... shit Sakura what was that for?" Naruto rubbed his head vigorously.

"Show her some more respect you idiot!" Naruto grumbled out a "fine" then slouched back in his chair with his legs crossed in the seat. Sakura shot him a glare. 

"I really like you Sakura. I think we could get along quite well." Tsunade laughed. Naruto quickly shot up in his seat and pointed his finger accusingly at Tsunade.

"DON'T GIVE HER ANY IDEAS!" 

"Oh shut up and take Sakura's hand." Both sat up in their chairs immediately with blushes planted clearly on their faces.

"WHAT!" 

"How old are you two? It's just a little training for the both of you to get to know each other a bit more. Now man up you two! Naruto put you hands out. Sakura I want you to put your hands on top of Naruto's." Sakura nodded. Naruto took a gulp and put his hands out, palm up. Sakura placed her hands on top of his.

"Now, Sakura, I want you to do what you did last time. But I want you to focus your chakra into your hands." Sakura nodded and closed her eyes. Naruto looked up at the girl and smiled longingly. She looked so cute biting her bottom lip and furrowing her brows in concentration. He wished _he _was the one biting her lip. The boy broke away from his daydream when he felt eyes boring into his skull. He turned around and his smile was replaced with a furious blush. Tsunade was smiling at the boy. But the smile reappeared on his face when a green glow focused by Sakura's hands. Sakura opened them and gasped with a smile on her face.

"Wow. Very good Sakura." Sakura giggled.

"I think you would make a good medic. You have very nice control of your chakra. Let me show you something and then I want you to try and do the same."

"Can I go?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No. Now shut up and give me you hand." Naruto gritted his teeth and refrained from doing anything that would land him a punch in the face from Sakura. Tsunade grabbed his outstretched hand and quickly sliced his hand with a paper.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!" Tsunade ignored the boy.

"Alright Sakura pay close attention. I want you to focus your chakra like you did just now, but this time, focus it into the cut. She placed her hand over the slice and in a green glow it disappeared."

"That's amazing!" Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and studied the invisible cut.

"Now you try it." Tsunade grabbed Naruto's hand again and sliced it with the paper.

"OUCH! GOD DAMNIT CAN YOU AT LEAST WARN ME BEFORE-" Sakura grabbed his hand back this time.

"Shut up." Naruto frowned at the girl. She placed her hand over his cut, focusing her chakra once again. _I can feel it... so I just pour my chakra into the wound... so simple! _Sakura looked up when she was done. Tsunade gabbed the hand back and inspected the cut.

"Impressive. You're definitely going to make a good medic- if you decide to practice it."

"Thank you Lady Tsunade!" Sakura bowed her head.

"You know Sakura, I would be happy to help you train. You remind me of myself when I was younger."

"Really? I would love to train under you Tsunade-sama!" Naruto crossed his arms.

"Damn you old hag." He muttered soft enough for Sakura not to hear.

"Naruto can you go get Genma? I believe we need to get Sakura a key to A.A." Naruto rolled his eyes and stood up, not before muttering one last profanity which only gave him a pen thrown at his head. With little yelp he jogged through the rippling door and disappeared. Sakura's eyes had followed the boy out of the room and she stared blankly at the door.

"Sakura, is there anything else you wanted to ask me?" Breaking the girl from her trance, she moved her eyes to Tsunade.

"Ah..Yes. I have a few questions about Naruto actually... about our fight today." Tsunade didn't respond, but Sakura continued.

"I noticed that as soon as the demon appeared, Naruto's feathers began to fall off... like he was molting or something. And then he changed them somehow. It was like the material it was made of changed to glass. When their wings collided it sounded like a car crash. I really had no idea what was going on..."

Sakura ended sheepishly rubbing the back of her head.

"Well, demons have a poison that travels through the bloodstream. That's why a person is poisoned once they touch its blood, but we are very sensitive to the poison- we don't even need to touch the blood to be affected. However, we are not affected in the same way as you would be. In the presence of a demon, an angel gets weaker, the result being the loss of feathers. That's why when we go to battle, we must finish it soon, at all costs. Now about the change in the wings density..." Tsunade leaned over the desk, Sakura couldn't help but notice the womans overly large breasts. She enviously brought her hand to her chest and sighed. 

"I'm going to do what Naruto did. It's actually a very simple technique, one of the first an angel learns. By sending all of my chakra to my wings, I can control it in any way I want- I can even make it heavy."

Sakura watched the wings harden and glisten like glass. She admired them for a moment until the wings crashed down onto the desk which splintered in half. The people in the room stopped talking for a second to look over at the two, but then turned back to their neighbors as though nothing had happened. Sakura, meanwhile, was tightly holding on to the sides of her chair, trembling.

"Pretty impressive huh? That's what you heard when the wings collided I'm guessing?"

Sakura gulped and then slowly nodded. 

"Here. Take this." Tsunade pulled a feather from her wing that sounded like knives rubbing up against one another and handed it to Sakura. She reached for it cautiously and Tsunade placed it in her palm. It was surprisingly heavy and stiff, the opposite of what Naruto's feathers had felt like. Tsunade lifted herself up and shook the wings back to their normal weightless fluff. Her broken desk didn't seem to have affected her a bit.

"That is strong enough to be bulletproof. Some people make armor out of them by tying the feathers together." Sakura looked into the glassy object in her hand. She could see her reflection.

"It would be nice to use this technique all the time, but the wings become so heavy that it is impossible to fly with them in that state. Each wing is about the weight of a rhino."

"Wow..." 

"I'd say you have about one question left. We really need to get this meeting moving along."

"Oh! Right." Sakura placed the feather on the desk.

"Can you explain the butterflies? And what about the flowers? They wee the most beautiful things I've ever seen but I don't even think they were real. It was like vapor."

Tsunade nodded with a smile on her face.

"That is one of the reasons you're so lucky to have Naruto, Sakura. He really is one of a kind."

"So, you can do that too? Everybody can?" Tsunade shook her head.

"Very rarely does chakra take a physical form, especially a form that almost becomes a solid. Sometimes, chakra will take the form of an actual creature, however it's not too clear why this event takes place or what causes it. What is clear is that whenever it happens, an angel's power is increased ten fold. They become practically unstoppable. Usually, chakra taking any form is a miracle, anyone would be lucky to see, let alone experience it in his or her life. But Naruto is always full of surprises. It's happened to him so many times it doesn't surprise me anymore."

"So you've seen it? Has it ever happened to you?" Sakura was now sitting at the tip of her chair.

Tsunade gave her an amused stare.

"Yes. It has. Mine took a different form though. Mine becomes an eagle. What's so different about Naruto's is that, his does not take the form of one creature like usual, but millions. In all of my life, I've never seen anything like it. You said something about flowers, am I correct?"

Sakura nodded her head vigorously.

"Hm... Interesting. I've never heard of that either. Jeez you two sure are gonna' be trouble aren't you?" Tsunade chuckled.

"But really." She leaned forward onto (what was left of) her desk.

"I'm not sure what to make of that Sakura- you'll have to figure that out on you own. Hell, you might be able to learn a lot more about Naruto than I'll ever get to. I'm glad you're his partner Sakura. He needed you."

Sakura grinned.

"Thank you Tsunade sama." She bowed her head. Tsunade leaned all the way back in he chair and stretched with a loud yawn.

"Well then. I guess it's time to get going then." Sakura stood up.

"But Sakura, I'd like to ask _you_ a question." 

"...Sure." Suddenly Tsunade's face turned devious. Leaning in towards Sakura so that she could only hear she asked:

"So what was your happy thought huh? I won't tell!" Sakura's face immediately turned red. Her thought did _not _have to do with a certain blond angel. Nope. Not at all! _Wow Sakura you just met him a day ago- you whore!__** I AM NOT A WHORE! **_While Sakura battled in an internal war with herself, Tsunade waited. _Tell her! __**NO! **__Awwwww come on! Tell her it was-_

"NOTHING!" She burst out. Tsunade laughed heartily

"Ah whatever." She stood up and dusted the tiny splinters of wood from her desk. The sound of two figures entering through the glass doors made Tsunade and Sakura look over. Tsunade sighed when she noticed that both Naruto and the other man called Genma were hidden behind a stack of paperwork in their hands. Both peered to the side to see where they were. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the destroyed table. Genma's face however, adopted a pure look of distraught. 

"TSUNADE SAMA! THAT'S THE THIRD DESK THIS WEEK!"

"So what?" Tsunade waved her hand to dismiss the subject.

"Just put those on the conference desk for now." The man sighed and walked over to the table and placed the tower of papers down steadily. After Naruto put down his stack, the man thanked him.

"Anytime Genma!" Naruto cheekily replied. The man disappeared behind the door grumbling.

"Okay then!" Tsunade raised her voice.

"Shall we get started?" Everybody turned to face Tsunade and sat up properly against the giant table.

"I've called you all here just to catch up a little. It's been a while since we've been the in the same room, no?" Everybody nodded and smiled. 

"So today-" 

"TSUNADE-SAMA." Tsunade began but was interrupted by a woman appearing from behind the door.

"OH JESUS CHRIST WHAT IS IT NOW?" The black haired woman was panting heavily and she took a couple deep breaths before she continued. 

"Jiraya-sama told me he needs to speak with you immediately!" Tsunade's expression turned serious.

"Thank you Shizune. Alright guys! I'm sorry to have called you here at all. It appears we won't be able to have the meeting after all- you are free to go! Don't think you've escaped any duties though! I'll be calling a meeting again soon!" Everyone in the room began chatting again as Tsunade followed Shizune out the door.

"SCORRRE!" Naruto cheered after Tsunade was out of sight.

"No missions for us today!" There was a chorus of relieved sighs and cheers. One by one everyone filtered out with goodbyes and hugs. Who knew the next time they would see each other again?

"Oh right!" Naruto reached into his pocket.

"Here you go! This is a key to A.A. It's like a conformation of the team your on!" Naruto gleefully took the necklace out of his pocket and placed it around Sakura's neck. Around the thin chain was a soft, white feather, undoubtedly Naruto's.

"You can show this to the guards of any A.A event or building."

"It's so pretty!" Sakura held it up proudly to her face to study the white feather.

"Yeah..." Naruto stared longingly at the girl until she looked at him.

"You okay Naruto?" 

"Huh? OH-Y-YEAH I'm fine! Lets go!" He took off towards the door with Sakura following. Sakura couldn't help but think of the other question she wanted to ask Tsunade. It was bothering her to death. She sneaked a peak over at the boy who was marching happily down the hallway. They passed the man named Genma again, whose wave turned onto a stifled yawn. After they exited the building into the empty street, Sakura stopped. Noticing that she was no longer at his side, Naruto turned around.

"Ne, Sakura-Chan? What's wrong?" The angel fully turned to her.

"I have a question Naruto." He nodded.

"What is it?"

"When you were fighting that demon Naruto... What happened to you... It was like you became a whole other person." Sakura looked down at her feet. It was normal to ask this question, right? She felt like she was going into forbidden territories, but she couldn't stop thinking of it.

"What happened." She repeated. Naruto plastered a forced smile onto his face and chuckled. 

"Wacha' talkin' about? Nothing happened!" Sakura looked up with a frown. She could tell that smile was just so fake. She hated it. She opened her mouth but closed it again and looked into his eyes.

"Naruto..." She pleaded with her voice. Naruto's smile faded. He was almost surprised; usually nobody could tell the difference between his smiles that were fake from the smiles that were real. He thought he had mastered it.

He shook his head.

"Forget about it Sakura." He slowly turned around. Sakura ran over to the boy and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder- the boy stopped instantly and his eyes widened. He still wasn't used to contact all the time, but it was...nice. He relaxed under her touch and turned around to look her in the face.

"Are you okay Naruto? You don't have to tell me now." Sakura questioned with a worried look on her face. Naruto smiled- this time, it was for real. 

"Yeah... Now I am." He pushed the girl over and grabbed her bridal style. He laughed as the girl kicked and screamed to get out of his grip- until they lifted off the ground.

A/N: Okay I know this one was kinda bad- haven't really been up to my writing standards lately (having some family issues) but this is all the more reason to REVIEW! Comments, suggestions ANYTHING (except flames) My family isn't really into Naruto AT ALL so really, the only reason I'm still writing is FOR YOU GUYS! 

The chapters WILL get better from here, HONEST! So please stick with me- I write these for you guys!

Next chapter will be posted as soon as I can- I'm not sure when that'll be though...


	6. Chapter 6: The Third Teammate

**A/N: Wow, guess what guys! I'M NOT DEAD! It's been SOOOOOO long and I HATE myself for it! I'm sooo sorry! I'll put my excuse simply like this:**

**me + finals + moving +writers block a terrible updater like me**

**There isn't too much romance stuff in this chapter (please don't kill me) but I promise you'll get some better fluff in the next chapter- possible heavy duty NasuSaku stuff in later chapters.**

**The real stuff in this story is just starting!**

So I'll stop talking, please enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Yeah and I guess I should start doing this too... well, no shit, I obviously don't own Naruto

* * *

Chapter 6: The Third Teammate

Sakura awoke to the sound of happily chirping birds outside her window. She breathed deeply as she closed her eyes again and nuzzled the soft pillow. _What a weird dream_. Her brain began to wake up. She giggled softly. _Haha_... _Angels, demons... I need to get more sleep. _Her moment of peace was broken when she felt something tickling her neck. With her eyes still closed she moved her hand up to the tickling sensation, a gasp uttered from her throat. Her eyes opened abruptly to look at the item in her hand: a soft white feather, connected to a thin chain. _Holy shit... IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! _

The girl shot up in her bed with her eyes wide.

"Fuck." Running her hand through her hair she took a calming breath. She looked over to her bedside table to see a letter written in terrible handwriting. Squinting her eyes to make sense of the mess she read:

_Good morning sunshine!!_

_I know... You're probably wondering where I am!_

"Not really." She continued.

_Unfortunately, yours truly couldn't be here this morning- I needed to take care of some manly _(Sakura chuckled) _business. I know Friday and Saturday were a bitch. Hell you've been out cold since I brought you back from headquarters! So yeah... I'll see you today at some point so don't worry about me!_

Sakura rolled her eyes.

_Oh and by the way, today's Monday (yep, you slept through Sunday) I would have set your alarm clock but I could never figure out those things. _

_GET TO SCHOOL WOMAN!!_

"WHAT!?" Sakura looked at her watch.

"FUCK!!" Stumbling and tripping over the sheets that twisted around her feet she ran to her drawers to get dressed. _That dirt bag's gonna' get it when he comes back!_

* * *

A pale skinned boy walked soundlessly through the school hallway. The bright lights reflected off the white walls giving him an unearthly glow- beautiful, nonetheless. Yes, Sasuke Uchiha was, what many would say, a gorgeous human being. He neither denied it, nor acknowledged it; in fact, he didn't even care. The only thing looks meant to him, would be the attraction of the never ending income of fan girls- though not number one on Sasuke's list of hated things, it ranked pretty high. With a sudden quick twist of his heels, he turned the corner and stopped at two wooden doors. The boy peeked through the window into the library and widened his eyes in surprise. A man was sitting at one of the tables by himself.

Coming to school a couple hours early was the usual schedule for Sasuke. It was his one time of the day to escape an empty house, fan girls; any_body_ or any_thing _that could be a potential bother altogether. Since the library was always open with only the librarian and very rarely any people, it was the perfect Sasuke sanctuary. So it was very understandable for him to be surprised when he found the man reading at the table- or should he say, _his _table. Sasuke sucked his teeth in annoyance. _Why did the bastard need to take that one of all seats. Jerk. _The doors opened with a loud creak that echoed through the library. The librarian looked up and gave a soft smile to Sasuke who waved his arm in greeting. The man however, never looked up. Sasuke made his way to the back of the room and briskly sat across from the man. He was deeply engrossed in an orange book that covered his face and his gray hair jutted out oddly to one side. Sasuke sneered. He had either not even noticed his presence, or he was fully ignoring him; and Sasuke wasn't used to being ignored, nor did he like it. The boy gave a suggestive cough and on cue, the man lowered his book. His surprised look turned into a faint smile that could be seen under the black mask overing the lower portion of his face.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" The man kindly asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke leaned forward in his chair. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Kakashi Hatake. You must be Sasuke Uchiha. Nice to meet you." Kakashi put his hand out . Sasuke wearily took the hand in his and shook it languidly.

"How do you know who I am?" Sasuke released his grip on the other man's hand.

"I know a lot of things Sasuke." Kakashi's smile faded and his eyes were replaced with their natural lazy look.

"Eighteen years old, one of the last of the Uchiha's, top in your class, your people were wiped out by your brother- quite a popular story you know." Sasuke crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair with a smirk.

"So you're from A.A, huh? Did they send you to babysit me? 'Cause I can tell you now, I don't need or want your help so I'd appreciate it if you fuck off." Sasuke calmly spoke. Kakashi smiled again.

"My my what a mouth you have!" Sasuke's sneer returned.

"Well Sasuke, you found me out." Sasuke smirked. Out of all the spies that were sent to track him, this one was by far most careless to be caught the first day. He hated the fact that the elders of A.A believed he needed to be under constant supervision. He lived alone but that didn't mean he was vulnerable. Kakashi continued.

"But if you think I'm leaving, you're wrong." Sasuke frowned.

"What?" Kakashi returned to his book.

"Even if you know I'm here to keep an eye out for you, I'm not leaving like the past few that you've been able to shake off. I'm not as weak as them and honestly Sasuke," He put his book down again, "I don't want to babysit a snotty, depressive kid with my time." Sasuke glared as he dug his nails into his arms to keep from lashing out at the man.

"I'm sure it doesn't surprise you that some of the students residing in this school are members of A.A. You're not my only priority here. I'm also here to keep an eye on the others and I'll be teaching them as well."

"Teaching?" Sasuke sat up.

"Yep! You're looking at the new senior English teacher." Kakashi waved his hand as though they were meeting for the first time again.

"You can't be serious..." Sasuke mumbled.

"But that's besides the point." Kakashi continued.

"Come to the lessons Sasuke, even if you aren't a member yet. When you finally find your troop, you might not be so alien to the others."

"Listen, I don't need your help and I don't need a troop! I'm strong enough by myself."

"No you aren't Sasuke." Sasuke caught the unfamiliar serious tone at once.

"You're too weak to fight against your brother and you know it. You need to work in a troop if you want to get any stronger because as much as you hate to admit it, you will have to depend on your teammates to advance any closer to Itachi's level." Sasuke stood up and slammed his hands against the table.

"Shut up." His arms shook in anger.

There was silence for a moment. The librarian held a book close to her chest frightfully, her glasses dangling slightly from the roof of her nose. Kakashi slowly turned his gaze from the furious face before him to his book.

"The first meeting is today at lunch. Be there"

And with that, the bell rang.

Sasuke grabbed his backpack and stormed out of the room leaving the man behind with his book. Kakashi looked over to the terrified nurse who gave him a questioning glance. Kakashi smiled and waved to her.

"Sorry about that miss!" She nodded slowly.

* * *

Sakura had amazingly managed to get to school only ten minutes late in the little amount of time she had. Running into class with her books in hand, she apologized to the teacher and took her usual seat next to Ino.

"Sheesh, what happened to you?" Ino chuckled. Sakura stared at the blond questioningly until she looked down at herself the first time that day. See quickly fixed the uneven buttons on her school uniform and smoothed the wrinkles out of her skirt. Wordlessly Ino took out a hand mirror and opened it up for Sakura to see herself.

"Thanks" she muttered shyly. The girl was interrupted as she was pulling her hair back into a ponytail.

"Excuse me miss Haruno." The teacher asked.

"Yes sir?" She politely asked- though on the inside, her blood was boiling. Ebisu sensei loved praying on the weak. He believed he was smarter, stronger; overall better than anyone else. Any chance he had to use his authority to make a fool of someone he took, much to the despair of his victim. But even if they all hated his guts, he was definitely a source of entertainment for all; being the teacher everyone hated, he was always a topic for conversation as well as pranks.

"Care to explain why you were late this morning?" Ebisu smirked and pushed his shaded glasses up with one finger.

"Well...uhhh." Sakura searched for her words. Obviously telling the truth was not an option.

"I slept a little late I guess." Sakura sighed. This would probably earn her a detention but she had no choice.

"Detention after school." He smiled. _Yep. Asshole..._

"Aw come on Ebisu sensei! Give her a break! It's Monday!" Came Ino's voice to the rescue.

"Yeah ten minutes isn't that much." Sakura looked forward to see Shikamaru. He caught her eye and smiled. Ebisu cleared his throat.

"Thank you Ino, Shikamaru, for sharing your thoughts." Sakura sighed in relief.

"But I don't care. Detention Sakura, after school."

"BUT I-"

"No excuses Ms. Haruno. I will see you-"

"Am I interrupting something?" The class turned their heads to the door at the front of the room. Anything was more interesting than Ebisu's lecture.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"Kakashi?" The man turned his head to the girl and waved.

"Hello Sakura!" Ebisu cleared his throat again.

"Yes you were Kakashi. Can I help you? I _am _teaching if you haven't noticed so make it quick."

Kakashi seemed to have taken no offense to the mans behavior and took his time, looking about the room for something. Ebisu stood awkwardly at the front of the desk, not knowing what to do as Kakashi pulled drawers open and slammed them shut. They whole room had gone silent.

"Can I do something for you Kakashi?" Ebisu spat out through clenched teeth.

"Oh..." Kakashi closed the closet he was currently searching and turned back to the class.

"Well I was just looking for my book. Have you seen it anywhere?" Kakashi got on his knees and looked under the desk. Ebisu's face had turned alarmingly red.

"KAKASHI GET OUT OF MY CLASS NOW!" Ebisu yelled.

"FOUND IT!" Kakashi yelled from under the desk.

"And...what it this?" He stood up slowly; in one hand he held his orange book while in the other he held up something that looked like a deflated human. Ebisu's face turned a whole darker shade.

"N-not that again!!" The whole class burst out into laughter.

"THAT IS NOT MINE!" Ebisu yelled. Kakashi looked thoughtfully at the doll for some time while everyone continued crying out their eyes in laughter.

"WHO DID IT THIS TIME?" Ebisu tried to yell above the class.

"Does it work well?" Kakashi asked.

"GET OUT! TAKE THAT THING WITH YOU!" Ebisu was close to tears. Kakashi on the other hand smiled gleefully (or, what appeared to be from behind the mask) and uttered out a "thanks" before walking out of the room with the book and doll in hand.

Ebisu had given up on teaching his class and had taken a seat behind his desk to brood. The rest of the period the kids had to themselves to do whatever they wanted- Sakura was all to happy since Ebisu had completely forgotten about the detention she was promised. Ino had just left for the bathroom when Shikamaru and Tenten appeared behind her.

"How ya feelin'?" Tenten smiled as she rested her arm over Sakura's shoulder.

"Pretty good, but uhh...why was Kakashi here?" Tenten and Shikamaru grabbed chairs from another table to sit on either side of Sakura.

"He's our new A.A teacher," Shikamaru folded his arms on the table and laid his head down,

"...used to be Ebisu."

"Ebisu is part of A.A?!" Sakura stared incredulously at the man sulking behind his desk. Shikamaru nodded his head silently and closed his eyes.

"Tsunade fired him since he was doing such a terrible job. I'm not exactly sure if Kakashi will do much better- I'd be surprised if he made it in time to the class at all, but, whatever." He gave a loud sigh and buried his face in his arms.

"So when is class then?" Sakura turned to Tenten since Shikamaru had decided he was done explaining for the day.

"Lunchtime- he's teaching history too." Sakura mouthed an 'oh' to her friend and looked over to the boy who had fallen asleep.

Soon her mind traveled off into la-la land until she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She looked over at Ebisu to make sure he was still an oblivious wreck and reached for her phone. Hiding it under the table she flipped it open to find a new text message. With another glance at Ebisu she opened up the message.

**Look outside**

Sakura blinked twice before turning her gaze to the window across the room. There, with a stunning, bubbly grin was the blond angel that had been occupying her thoughts the whole day. Next to him was Kiba who was busy studying a spider web on the side of the window frame. Sakura couldn't hold back a smile and gave a wave to the two angels. She suddenly dropped her arm after realizing that part of the kids in the class were staring at her as though she was crazy. She turned to Tenten who had made a more subtle greeting with a nod of her head and Shikamaru who had never woken from his slumber... nor would he care at all. Sakura made a mental note to work on her awareness of the "outsiders" or so she decided to call them. She looked over at the angels again who began entertaining themselves by placing their mouths on the window glass and blowing, cheeks puffing up with air. Tenten and Sakura both chuckled, waking Shikamaru up from his nap. He looked at the two girls chuckling then lazily turned to the windows. Naruto and Kiba perked up at their new admirer and the blond blew warm air onto the glass. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. The boy began to write something with his finger. All three squinted to see what he was writing. Naruto leaned back with pride at his masterpiece.

_Shikamaru sucks balls_

Sakura couldn't bite off another laugh at boys randomness. Shikamaru placed his face back in his arms and raised the middle finger up.

"Immature little pricks." He mumbled.

* * *

Tsunade was deep in thought. She was frustrated about several things. After having her meeting interrupted, she had lost the time to give out precious missions. There had been a lot lately and she could rarely afford giving any teams a vacation. But what bothered her more was what she was dragged out for. Meetings with Jiraiya were usually nothing to fear, but when he was serious, it meant business. He wasn't one of the Legendary Three for nothing.

"_WHAT IS IT JIRAIYA! THIS HAD BETTER BE IMPORTANT!" The blond yelled furiously as she burst into her office, Shizune close at her heels. She calmed however when she realized that Jiraiya's face looked grave. Leaning against the window with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, he took a deep breath._

"_They've caught another one." He breath steadily._

"_What?" Tsunade stared at the man._

"_You heard me." The white haired man opened his eyes and walked around the desk to stop in front of Tsunade. Tsunade stormed over to the other side of the desk and sat down heavily. _

"_DAMN IT!" She slammed her hand against the desk causing all of the objects fall over. Nobody said anything while Tsunade got control of herself. She placed her elbows on the table and slowly massaged her temples._

"_What happened to the team I sent?" She managed to utter out once she gathered herself up. Jiraiya shook his head._

"_They didn't make it." He watched Tsunade flinch and fist her hands. Jiraiya was always scared shitless of this woman, but it was impossible to not admire her; he could truly feel the pain in her heart whenever they lost anybody- even if she had never met the person in her life._

"_You should have told me. I would've gone on the mission too-"_

"_No." Tsunade interrupted._

"_You would have probably died too if that team was taken out that easily. I didn't think they were this strong already..."_

"_That was the second to last bijuu Tsunade. That means-"_

"_Naruto's their next target." Tsunade clenched her jaw. The thought of those bastards taking away her beloved Naruto struck a chord. Anyone who laid a finger on him except for her, would pay._

"_The elders have said they wanted to keep Naruto out of any other missions and keep him safe in heaven." Tsunade laughed._

"_You already know my answer, why ask me?" Jiraiya smiled at his old teammate._

"_I was humoring you." Shizune looked from one to the other looking for an answer. Both Tsunade and Jiraiya turned to look at her._

"_Shizune!" The said woman jumped and stood up straight._

"_YES LADY TSUNADE!"_

"_Tell the elders that my decision is final. Naruto will not be kept under high security in heaven. He will stay on earth and continue with his missions!"_

_Shizune grew wide eyed at her leader's words._

"_But lady Tsunade I really don't think it's a good idea to put Naruto in any more missions; it would only put him in more trouble!"_

"_Are you questioning me Shizune?" Tsunade growled. Jiraiya rolled his eyes. 'Here they go again.'_

"_N-no lady Tsunade! I'm not it's, just-"_

"_It's just what!?"_

"_Naruto is Akatsuki's main target. If we send him on missions we would be sending him right into their hands, it really might be a good idea to keep him protected in heaven." Shizune continued after she saw Tsunade glaring at her._

"_Lady Tsunade, you must understand, I'm saying this because I care for Naruto a well. Afterall, he doesn't even have a full troop yet I don't know what I'd do if he was ever caught and taking extra precautions would never hurt..." Shizune hung her head down waiting for he next blow. But it never came._

"_Shizune," Tsunade began softly, "I know you care about Naruto." Shizune lifted her head up to find the woman staring at her with a warm motherly smile._

"_But do you really think that keeping him in heaven will stop them? They would be able to break through the security team somehow and it would only put heaven itself in danger. We can't keep running from them Shizune. That's what we've been doing for the past few years and it needs to end. We have to fight back- even Naruto knows it. Do you really think he would accept being kept in heaven? He would find some way to escape which would only be more trouble."_

_She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes with a chuckle._

"_Naruto understands how dangerous they are. Even though he's seems oblivious on the outside, he's strong Shizune. He wants to fight them. And I think his team is going to be complete very soon..." Shizune nodded and her lips curved up on the sides into a faint, but noticeable smile as she walked out the door._

Tsunade came back to the current time and took a deep breath. She hoped sending Kakashi in would help the matters at hand- as much as she hated to agree with the two trouble makers, Ebisu was a terrible teacher. She wanted the teams to be ready for anything coming their way because something was definitely stirring in the distance.

* * *

For most of history class, Kakashi had been absent, but everyone could care less. Having a second free period class was in all the students' favor. Sakura was able to finish homework that she had never gotten time to do until she was stopped by Shikamaru. He explained to her that it was pointless to do homework because the members of the A.A (so long as they were not failing a class) could hand in any homework they received during normal classes to the headquarters, where it would be completed for the students. Homework was just another obstacle in the A.A's way that took time away from missions. That had put Sakura in a great mood the whole class period, even if paper planes consecutively flew into her face.

But the class's free period was ruined when the silver haired man walked in followed by a series of sighs. Without removing his face from his orange Icha-Icha book, he walked to the middle of the class.

"Sorry kids I had to...uh... ward off a bunch of ninjas..."

The class stared questioningly at the strange teacher before them who had just sat down behind his desk to continue reading. After a while, Kakashi noticed the lack of noise and lowered the book from his face.

"Go wild or whatever you kids do. I don't feel like teaching today." He lifted the book back over his face. Some of the students exchanged uncertain glances at one another, expecting this little stunt to be some sort of test. But after a couple shrugs of the shoulders, the chaos continued.

Sakura ignored the other paper planes crashing into her once again as she gazed to the front of the classroom where her black haired crush sat. She sighed heavily, face relaxing into a dazed smile, as another plane lodged itself in her hair.

The bell sounded, signaling the beginning of lunch. The kids immediately scrambled out the door as though their life depended on it. Sakura scoured the room to see who she would be spending her new class with. She found the obvious; Shikamaru and Tenten already moving from the back of the class to take a seat in front of the silver haired man, face still in his little book. Sakura turned he head when the door to the classroom slid open and a green blur burst into the room.

"HELLO MY FELLOW COMRADES!!" Lee leaped on to one of the desks with a fist pumped into the air.

"Boy am _I_ ready to learn!" The enthusiastic attempt was however in vain, and the poor boy was ignored. Following with a slightly disgusted look on his face (possibly due to the antics of his fellow teammate) was Neji who gracefully traveled to the other side of the room and leaned against he wall with his wings folded neatly behind him. The door opened again to Shino and a silent Hinata who smiled in acknowledgment. A soft rapping at the window outside made the heads in the room turn in response. Naruto, Kiba and Chouji sat on the windowsill waving.

Tenten got up from her seat and opened the windows. The three boys glided in, Naruto sloppily falling into a desk like a broken winged bird.

A small movement from the corner of her eye caught Sakura's attention. She let out a silent gasp. She was surprised to say the least when she noticed the raven still sitting in his original spot at the front of the classroom. She looked to the three boisterous angels that had just come in, but the boy was indifferent to their appearance. He only gave a quick glance at the boys while he spun his pencil in his hand. It was clear he wasn't surprised nor did he want to be there.

Sakura got up from her seat and walked over to the boy. She put on the best smile she could as a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. She slowly reached her hand out to touch the boy on the shoulder when the wind was knocked out of her.

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAN!!" The blond squeezed the girl in a giant bear hug until she could no longer breath.

"Naruto...GET...OFF!" The girl managed to pull out her arm from the embrace and punched the angel on the top of the head. Sakura brushed herself off and tried to smooth her hair down before she continued her journey to the raven, who had turned his attention to her. She blushed deeply at the show she must've put on.

"S-Sasuke-Kun... W-what are you doing here?" She managed to stutter. The boy eyed her for a moment before answering.

"I should be asking you the same thing." Sakura stared blankly at the boy, unsure of what to say.

The annoyed raven looked straight ahead again.

"Well it's obvious why I'm here right? It's a pointless question so why ask it." Sakura flinched at the cold tone of the boys voice, her blush getting darker. Forgotten by both, Naruto struggled to his feet while he nursed his throbbing head.

"You don't have to be an asshole about it." Sasuke turned his head with a complete look of disgust on his face.

"And just who the fuck are you?" The raven snarled.

"I'm the guy who's about to kick your ass if you don't apologize!" The angel's wings puffed up to an impressive size as he began to move in towards the brunette.

"Wait Naruto..Calm down!" Sakura grabbed the boy's arm in hope that he would relax.

"Ha! I'd like to see you try!" The raven stood up from his chair. The room went silent as all eyes turned to the bickering group. Sakura tightened her grip around the angels arm which had a surprisingly affective response. The blond stopped his advance but in replace Sakura heard what she could swear was a growl ripple through his body.

"Alright you two, knock it off. We need to begin the lesson." Both boys sent a glare to their sensei who showed no reaction. After another glare at the raven, Naruto huffed and grabbed Sakura's hand in his.

"C'mon Sakura." Naturally she would have pummeled the boy into the ground for embarrassing her in front of Sasuke, but the surprise of the hand in hers shut her up, and she wordlessly followed the fuming boy to the other side of the room.

Sasuke sat down gracefully as any angel (or at least most) as Naruto plopped down on the ground dragging the girl with him. Both boys turned to each other and 'hmph'ed before turning back to their sighing sensei.

"Well then are we all here?" Kakashi scanned the room for any missing students.

"Good, then let's begin!" The teacher turned to the chalkboard and began writing.

"YOU?!" Everyone turned around, confusion written all over their faces. Kakashi frowned._ I didn't even want to be here. Couldn't they just show a little respect? _He wished in his head.

"Why are you here?!" Ino pointed at the pink haired girl with a frown. The blond looked around the room to see if anyone else found this strange phenomenon particularly odd, however, nobody seemed as confused as her.

"Wait...no way...don't tell me..._You're _part of A.A?" Sakura, at first confused by her friends actions, grew furious.

"What the hell does that mean pig?! Am I not good enough for it?" Sakura took a dangerous step forward.

"Yeah, I guess I never though you had any fight in ya! Psh...I feel bad for your groupies." Ino placed her hands on her hips and smirked.  
"YOU BITCH!" Sakura launched herself at the other girl with her teeth bared. The blond charged as well. Luckily Naruto had grabbed Sakura tightly around the waist while Shikamaru took care of Ino.

"Sakura calm down!!" The said girl struggled ferociously in the boys arms.  
"Did you hear what she said? She deserves to be bitch slapped!!"

"Why the hell did I have to get paired up with such a short tempered girl?" Shikamaru complained out loud.  
"Troublesome..." He mumbled, dodging Ino's flailing fists. Kiba laughed hysterically in the back, adding more chaos into the fight with cat meows.

"KIBA YOU ASS! YOU AREN'T HELPING AT ALL!" Naruto yelled at the boy.

After a while, the girls wee coaxed by their (by now physically damaged) "body guards" to relax and sit on opposite sides of he room. Kakashi cleared his throat

"Well then! I would like to start with a certain saying," Kakashi spoke as he wrote,"'We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.'" He turned around to face the class. They all watched silently, waiting for their teacher to speak up again.

"Teamwork!" With a stick out of nowhere, he pointed to the words written on the board in capital letters. Everybody stared dumbly at the teacher. The only noise was the furious scratching of Lee's pen against his notebook. The boy already had tears running down his face.

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"This is the most important thing you will ever learn from me." Kakashi continued.

"Without teamwork, warriors will never be able to show, let alone use their full potential power." Kakashi looked at Sasuke quickly.

"In the A.A, our troops are our family. You must vow always to protect them when they need protection, and always help them when they are in need of help: this is the key to a successful team." Eyes followed the stick that lead them back to the quote written on the board.

"By embracing each other, it is possible to overcome the impossible. I know that some of you ," he turned to Sasuke again," may find this to be foolish, maybe even a waste of time, believe me, I once thought so too. But it wasn't until I fully began trusting my teammates that I truly understood." Naruto felt shivers from the body next to him. Sakura hadn't taken her eyes off Kakashi once: brows furrowed in concentration and fists clenched on her sides. Naruto smiled softly at the girl before turning his attention back to his teacher.

"Now I'm sure you are all aware that you are the youngest group of A.A members that are currently part of the organization," Some arrogant smirks and smiles broke out through the classroom "which means that you are all dumber and weaker than the rest of the members." The smirks and smiles faded into glares and pouts. Noting the dreary atmosphere he caused Kakashi added:

"But that's not a bad thing!" The teacher rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. He always seemed to say the wrong things, which was one of the reasons he really didn't want to be a teacher in the first place. He internally sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

"We are all angels in training." Kakashi smiled. A silent scoff was echoed through the classroom. All heads turned to the raven.

"You could easily say that we're all demons in training just the same." He stared intensely at Kakashi with his hands crossed over his chest. Suddenly Kakashi was serious. The smile was completely wiped off, and his expression under the mask was unreadable. Kakashi stared hard into Sasuke's eyes.

"We never train to become demons." Everyone flinched slightly. The words from their teacher were unnaturally snappy and harsh. Naruto's eyes widened when Sakura slowly rose a shaking hand in air. He watched her throat move as she gulped nervously. Kakashi looked at the girl but said nothing.

"How do you become a...demon?"

"The only time a person will become a demon is if we fail as true teachers, friends or family." Sakura shifted subconsciously towards Naruto.

The lesson continued for the next half hour in which Sakura learned (what she believed was common knowledge by now for the majority of people in the room) of the general world of A.A. She was surprised at how many unanswered questions she had been brooding over were answered in less than an hour.

"Well, I think it's time we wrap it up. I'll tell you all your first assignment and then you're excused." Naruto took a giant yawn that seemed contagious as the others followed suit.

"Each troop will live with each other for a month!" Kakashi smiled and clapped his hands together as though it were the greatest thing in the world. Ino spat the water she had been drinking all of the desk and began to cough, Shikamaru sighed something that sounded like a "damn it," even Neji seemed disheveled by the assignment, however, Naruto and Lee jumped up with glee.

"SCORE!" Naruto grinned. _A whole month alone with Sakura?! _Lee stood on a table with his fist in the air facing Neji and Tenten.

"I promise...," He spoke between loud sniffles, "..I promise I shall be the greatest roommate ever! We will have such a great time!"

"Oh Jesus." Tenten dropped her head into her hands. Neji took a deep breath and messaged his temples while Lee complimented Kakashi's assignment for being "a fresh and youthful experience waiting to happen." Sakura groaned slightly at the thought of living with the blond for a month. Sure she really liked him, but living with him for a month was something completely different.

"Well, it's up to you guys to figure out whose house you stay at. And _don't_ try faking it. I know where you live. Later!" Kakashi grinned behind his mask and sprinted out of the classroom before any of the occupants could castrate him.

The groups grouchily picked up their stuff and seeped slowly out of the room. Before they made it out however, Naruto noticed Sasuke smirking.

"What the hell are you smirking at bastard?" Naruto growled. He felt Sakura grab his arm.

"This is all ridiculous." Sasuke stood up slowly and placed his books neatly back in his bag.

"I'm wasting my time here. You're all a bunch of idiots." He swung the strap of his backpack over his shoulder.

"What did you just say?" Naruto stepped in Sasuke's way, blocking the door. The tension in the room rose.

"You heard me. Now get out of my way." The raven took another step forward, but Naruto never moved and instead spread his wings slightly yet no less threateningly.

"Move it," Sasuke took a closer look at his enemy's appearance and smirked, "shrimp." Though his glare never faltered, Sakura watched a faint blush appear on the blonds cheeks. Sure, he was slightly taller than Sakura, but compared to the rest of the boys his age, he surely was not the tallest. Sasuke stood almost a head above the blond, however, the length of his wings made him look larger than he really was.

"I don't care if you fuck with me but don't you dare insult my friends."

"I'll do whatever I want."

"I don't even know why I'm bothering with you. You're just an egocentric prick." Sasuke faked a surprise look.

"Ooooooh, stupid used a big word!"

With the belief of having an advantage of being an angel, and thus, being unable to be harmed by the boy(with the exception of Sakura), Naruto lunged forward without bothering to prepare himself for any defense should the raven strike back. But he was taken by surprise when the raven grabbed his fist and rebutted with his own. Sasuke's fist met Naruto's jaw with a loud crack, sending the angel to the floor in a a heap of feathers.

"Naruto!" Sakura knelt next to the boy and helped him sit up. She lifted a hand up to his face and began healing his bleeding jaw like Tsunade had taught her, but stopped when she noticed the dumbstruck look on Naruto's face.

"No fucking way."

Troop seven had found their third teammate.

* * *

I'm not too tickled by this chapter but it's a chapter nonetheless and so I decided something is better than nothing!

**Next Chapter A/N: I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. All I can say is that is probably won't take as long as this one did. Please R&R it really inspires me believe it or not!**


End file.
